Shanghai is easing rules that have restricted more than 25 million people from living in their homes following allegations that they had difficulty finding food.  But most of its businesses are still closed.  Access to Guangzhou, an industrial center of 19 million people near Hong Kong, was suspended this week.  Other cities cut off access or close factories and schools.
Spring planting by Chinese farmers feeding 1.4 billion people could be halted, Nomura economists warned on Thursday.  This could boost demand for imported wheat and other foodstuffs, pushing for already high world prices.
The closures are an embarrassment for the ruling Communist Party and a setback for formal efforts to support the slowdown in growth in the world’s second largest economy.  They come during a sensitive year where President Xi Jinping is expected to try to break with tradition and give himself a third five-year term as leader.
Beijing has promised to cut the human and economic costs of the “zero COVID” strategy, but Xi ruled out joining the United States and other governments on Wednesday that are moving away from restrictions and trying to live off the virus.
“Prevention and control work can not be relaxed,” Xi said, according to the official Xinhua news agency.  “Persistence is victory.”
The risk of China falling into recession is rising, Ningura’s Ting Lu, Jing Wang and Harrison Zhang warned in a report.
“Critical logistics is deteriorating,” they said.  “Markets should also be concerned about the delayed spring planting of cereals in China.”
The government reported 29,411 new cases on Thursday, all but 3,020 asymptomatic.  Shanghai accounted for 95% of that total, or 27,719 cases.  All but 2,573 had no symptoms.
A health official warned Wednesday that Shanghai did not have the virus under control despite easing restrictions.
About 6.6 million people were allowed to flee their homes in areas where there were no new cases for at least a week.  But at least 15 million others are still banned from going outside.
Most people obeyed despite complaining about shortages of food, medicine and access to elderly relatives who needed help.  However, videos on the popular social networking service Sina Weibo show some negotiations with the police.
Grape Chen, a data analyst in Shanghai, said she panicked about taking medication for her father, who is recovering from a stroke.  She called police after receiving no response from an official hotline, but was told quarantine rules forbidding officers from assisting.
“We are willing to work with the country,” Chen said.  “But we also hope that our lives can be respected.”
Suzhou Municipal Authority, a hub for smartphone manufacturing and other high-tech industries west of Shanghai, has told its 18 million people to stay home whenever possible.
Taiyuan, a city of 4 million people in central China, has suspended intercity bus traffic, according to the official China News Service.  Ningde in the southeast barred residents from leaving.
A restaurant cook in Taiyuan said his family has been confined to their apartment complex since April 3 after cases were reported in neighboring complexes.
“Our lives will be severely affected if the restrictions last too long,” said the cook, who will give only his last name, Chen.
“My wife and I are not gaining anything,” Chen said.  “We have three children to support.”
All but 13 of China’s 100 largest cities in terms of economic performance are subject to some form of restriction, according to Gavekal Dragonomics, a research firm.
“The tension is rising,” Gavekal said in a report this week.
The volume of cargo handled from the port of Shanghai, the busiest port in the world, fell by 40%, according to an estimate by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.  Automakers have suspended production due to supply disruptions.
Restrictions on areas producing smartphones, consumer electronics and other goods around the world are pushing meteorologists to cut expectations for economic growth by up to 5% this year, down from 8.1% last year.
The goal of the ruling party is 5.5%.  Growth fell 4% from a year earlier in the last quarter of 2021, as tighter official debt controls caused a collapse in home sales and construction, industries that support millions of jobs.
Even before the last shutdown, the ruling party promised tax refunds and other assistance to wealthy and job-creating entrepreneurs.
Prime Minister Li Keqiang, the No. 2 leader and top financial official, called this week for “faster delivery” of aid to companies facing a “key to survival,” the China News Service reported.
Under a strategy called “dynamic clearing,” authorities are trying to use more targeted measures to isolate neighborhoods instead of entire cities with populations larger than some countries.  However, some local leaders impose more sweeping controls.
Shanghai leaders have been criticized for trying to minimize financial damage by ordering tests, but not shutting down once cases were identified last month.  A shutdown was ordered across the city with only a few hours warning as the number of cases skyrocketed.
This was in contrast to Shenzhen, a technology and financial center of 17.5 million people near Hong Kong that closed the city on March 13 after an outbreak and ordered mass trials.  It reopened a week later and work returned to normal.
Guangzhou imitated Shenzhen.  Most access to the city of 19 million was suspended on Monday and mass trials were ordered after 27 infections.
Li Guanyu, a 31-year-old woman in Guangzhou, said residents can only leave her apartment once every other day to buy food, but the shops are well stocked.
“It happened a little bit suddenly,” Lee said.  “Perhaps the situation in Shanghai is so bad that Guangzhou started mass testing and lockdown as soon as cases were discovered.”
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AP researchers Yu Bing in Beijing and Chen Si in Shanghai and video producer Olivia Zhang in Beijing contributed.