Seventeen million people in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen began their first full day under lockdown Monday, as a key factory making iPhones closed and restrictions spread across Shanghai and other major cities in an effort to extinguish the biggest-ever threat to the nation's zero-tolerance Covid strategy.

The southern city of Shenzhen took the measures on Sunday as authorities battled an Omicron flare-up in factories and neighborhoods linked to nearby Hong Kong, which is recording scores of daily deaths as the virus runs rampant.

Major Apple supplier Foxconn suspended its operations in Shenzhen, the company said Monday, as the lockdown bit hard into economic activity across the factory hub.

Shenzhen is one of ten areas nationwide to issue some level of stay-at-home order.

Health officials have warned tighter measures could be on their way, as concerns mount over the resilience of China's "zero-Covid" approach in the face of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant.

Authorities reported 2,300 new virus cases nationwide on Monday and almost 3,400 a day earlier, the highest daily figure in two years.

"There have been many small-scale clusters in urban villages and factories," Shenzhen city official Huang Qiang said at a Monday briefing.

"This suggests a high risk of community spread, and further precautions are still needed."

Photos shared with AFP by a Shenzhen resident showed entrances to a housing compound blocked by large plastic barriers, as residents swapped jokes on social media about their rush to grab laptops from offices before the lockdown.

Tech stocks tumbled on the Hong Kong exchange in early trading Monday, as concerns over the impact of the virus spread in Shenzhen -- home to hubs for Foxconn, as well as Huawei and Tencent -- spooked investors.

- Toughing it out -

In Shanghai, China's largest city, residential areas and offices in some neighbourhoods remained sealed off on Monday as city authorities try to avoid a full lockdown.

The city reported around 170 new virus cases on Monday, enough to seed anxiety among businesses over the economic pain ahead.

A restauranteur with four outlets in different parts of the city said he has to wade through a morass of hyper-local restrictions, giving an indication of how ordinary life in China is still spun on its head by a pandemic that has eased across much of the world.

"Different districts adopt different policies," he told AFP, requesting anonymity.

"I want to close one and keep the rest open, and see how it goes later. What else can I do except for tough it out?"

Other outbreak epicentres have been less lucky.

Jilin province in the country's northeast recorded over 1,000 new cases for the second day in a row.

At least five cities in the province have been locked down since the beginning of March, including the major industrial base of Changchun, whose nine million residents were confined at home Friday.

While the caseload is low in global terms, it is deeply alarming in China where authorities have been unrelenting in squashing clusters since early 2020.

In recent days, at least 26 officials in three provinces have been dismissed due to their poor handling of local outbreaks, state media reported.

China has so far managed to control sporadic domestic outbreaks through a combination of snap lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions but the latest outbreak is testing the limits of its playbook.

Top medical expert Zhang Wenhong said Monday that China cannot relax its zero-Covid policy just yet despite the low fatality rate of Omicron.

"It is very important for China to continue to adopt the strategy of community Covid-zero in the near future," Zhang wrote on social media.

"But this does not mean that we will permanently adopt the strategy of lockdown and full testing."

As virus cases surge, can China's zero-Covid strategy hold?
Beijing (AFP) March 14, 2022 - China, the country where the coronavirus was first detected in 2019, is among the last remaining devotees to a zero-Covid approach to the pandemic.

But after two years of virtually closed borders, mass testing, targeted lockdowns and quarantines, the strategy is being stress-tested like never before as cases surge across the country.

With millions currently under lockdown, can China's approach hold out against the march of the Omicron variant?

What is zero-Covid?

China essentially closed itself off from the world in March 2020 to follow a formula it calls "dynamic zero" for curbing outbreaks: strict lockdowns and immediate mass testing.

Unlike during softer lockdowns elsewhere, people in China can be banned from leaving their building or forced to remain inside a hotel room if they are considered high-risk contacts.

Mandatory track-and-trace apps mean close contacts are usually detected and quarantined quickly.

Shops, schools, tourist sites, office blocks and malls have been summarily locked down with people inside after the detection of a single close contact.

Officials are routinely dismissed or castigated in state media for outbreaks in their areas. That puts the onus on local authorities to move fast and hard on any clusters.

Residents are forced to stay at home at a moment's notice, including the 17 million people of Shenzhen who were locked down on Sunday.

International flight volumes have also collapsed, with the limited arrivals undergoing strict weeks-long quarantine.

The government has said it will not renew expiring Chinese passports unless the holder has a good reason for travel -- shredding outbound demand for travel.

Why has China held on?

China's caseload since the start of the pandemic -- just over 115,000 -- is a fraction of those recorded elsewhere.

The official death toll has stayed under 5,000.

Although cases from the chaotic initial outbreak in Wuhan in early 2020 are widely believed to have been under-reported, life since then has largely returned to normal.

Beijing's communist leadership has made its handling of the pandemic a matter of political capital, saying the low death rate demonstrates the strength of its governance model.

It has highlighted chaotic Covid responses in the US as an example of the wider failures of liberal democracies. Analysts warn any change in strategy will also need to shift perceptions of the virus among the masses in China.

Loosening virus restrictions could also prove risky for President Xi Jinping as he seeks a third term in October after billing himself as the leader who keeps China safe.

What is the impact?

Zero-Covid comes at a cost, both human and economic.

It has caused repeated disruption, particularly in port cities and border areas that endure almost constant lockdowns.

Analysts say repeated shutdowns of factories and businesses have contributed to the slowing economy.

And there has been a grinding impact on ordinary lives.

Locked-down communities have complained of poor access to food, supplies and medical treatment.

The distressing case of a pregnant Chinese woman miscarrying after a strict lockdown delayed her access to medical treatment reignited debate over the limits of China's zero-tolerance approach.

Meanwhile, migrant workers have been left stranded from families for months due to onerous travel rules and restrictions.

Examples of extreme enforcement have sparked outrage, such as when health workers beat a corgi to death after the owners were sent to quarantine.

Can it be maintained?

A top Chinese scientist said this month that the country should aim to coexist with the virus. Meanwhile, the government announced it was introducing rapid antigen tests for the first time, which would allow at-home testing -- a potential loosening of the state's hold on the health crisis.

However, there are concerns over the capacity of the country's healthcare system and the efficacy of domestic vaccines.

Peking University researchers have warned China could suffer a "colossal outbreak" that would overwhelm its medical system if it relaxed restrictions to a similar level as in Europe and the US.

And officials are anxiously watching the experience of Hong Kong, where hospitals have struggled in a recent outbreak.

The city currently has one of the world's highest death rates from the virus, as the Omicron variant cuts through its elderly population, among whom vaccine hesitancy is common.

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As virus cases surge, can China's zero-Covid strategy hold?
Beijing (AFP) March 14, 2022
China, the country where the coronavirus was first detected in 2019, is among the last remaining devotees to a zero-Covid approach to the pandemic. But after two years of virtually closed borders, mass testing, targeted lockdowns and quarantines, the strategy is being stress-tested like never before as cases surge across the country. With millions currently under lockdown, can China's approach hold out against the march of the Omicron variant? What is zero-Covid? China essentially closed ... read more