China’s southern metropolis of Guangzhou has been locked down for five days. The city of 19 million has become the epicenter of China’s latest Covid outbreak and is the worst since the start of the pandemic to have hit Guangzhou. The city is the capital of Guangdong province, which is a major economic powerhouse for China and a global manufacturing hub.

China had recently stepped up to ease zero-COVID measures and bail out its property sector but local authorities nationwide are under pressure to ramp up Covid control measures despite mounting public frustration. China’s doctors have warned that the nation is not to relax lockdown measures, in an article by the Financial Times: China’s doctors warn ‘we’re not ready’ as threat of covid ‘exit wave’ stymies reopening ambitions.