The Chinese city of Chengdu will conduct mass testing for COVID-19 from Thursday to Sunday, the city’s municipal government announced on Thursday.

All residents of the capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan are ordered to stay at home from 18:00. local time, but households are allowed to send one person a day to shop for essentials.

The Chinese government continues its zero-tolerance policy towards the coronavirus.

Restrictions were also introduced on Wednesday in parts of the southern city of Guangzhou, which has joined Shenzhen’s technology hub in fighting the outbreak, adding to uncertainty about trade and daily life in the region’s two most economically dynamic metropolitan areas.

This week, several of China’s largest cities tightened restrictions due to COVID-19, restricting the activities of tens of millions of people.

The authorities, seeking to balance economic needs with an attempt to contain any outbreak, said the restrictions would only be in place for a few days, although the two northern provincial capitals extended them slightly.

Capital Economics estimates that 41 cities, which account for 32% of China’s GDP, are facing a wave of coronavirus, the highest since April.

“For now, the disruptions it causes seem modest, but the threat of disruptive restrictions is growing,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at the consultancy. “And even if they can be avoided, we expect growth to remain subdued going forward.”

Guangzhou, a city of nearly 19 million people near Hong Kong, reported only five local cases on Tuesday, but authorities have ordered some areas in one area to stop indoor entertainment and dine in restaurants until Saturday.

They also ordered most of the district’s schools to delay their return to the fall semester and stop physical activities that had already begun, state media said, while buses and subways have also been cut.

In Shenzhen, at least four districts with a population of about 9 million people have ordered the closure of entertainment and cultural institutions and the suspension or reduction of dining in restaurants for several days.

The Yandian urban area locked down some narrower areas until Sunday, limiting home shopping to only one person every two days and suspending businesses, albeit allowing limited business activity in key sectors.

Shenzhen education authorities have postponed the start of a new semester of classes for school classes.

The local government urged residents not to leave without good reason in a statement released late Wednesday night. He did not elaborate on how officials would monitor compliance with the new requirement, but asked the government, party organs and state-owned companies to ensure that their employees do not make unnecessary trips outside the city.

According to the statement, residents who are due to leave must prove two negative tests within 48 hours.

The combined output of Shenzhen and Guangzhou last year reached 5.89 trillion yuan (855 billion euros), or about half of South Korea’s GDP.

Source: Reuters.