Sharjah24 – Reuters: Multiple companies have suspended operations in one of China's biggest manufacturing hubs as local authorities try to contain a COVID-19 outbreak, halting production of goods from batteries to textile dyes and plastics.
At least 20 listed companies have shut operations in virus-hit areas in Zhejiang, an eastern province with a large industrial sector that accounts for around 6% of China's GDP and where many goods are manufactured for export.
Tens of thousands of Zhejiang residents are in quarantine and some domestic flights have been suspended as a national health official said the outbreak in three cities - Ningbo, Shaoxing and Hangzhou - was developing at a "relatively rapid" speed.
Zhejiang reported 44 locally transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms on Dec. 13, official data showed on Tuesday, taking the total to 217 just over a week since the first case was reported on Dec. 6. Prior to the current outbreak, the province had reported just one local case this year.
There are more than 350 industrial enterprises in the zone, which is located near the cities of Ningbo, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Suzhou and Wenzhou.
The companies said they halted operations in line with local government orders in Zhenhai district in Ningbo and Shangyu district in Shaoxing, which curtailed all production bar essential manufacturing.
More than 50,000 people have been quarantined at centralised facilities across the coastal province of 64.4 million, while a further nearly half a million people were being monitored.
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