No signs of China easing lockdown rules as covid cases continue to mount. PBOC eyed

China reported a seventh consecutive day of record covid cases at 24,101 with 21,222 of those in Shanghai as the outbreak continues to spread.

Mass testing is continuing and there’s no end in sight to a lockdown that was supposed to end April 5. Traffic at the airport is largely grounded and the world’s largest port is working at half capacity.

Four rounds of mass testing have already taken place and today a fifth round started.

There are signs of growing infections elsewhere and in Beijing, officials tightened control measures with 64 patients in the city currently under treatment.

“Beijing is at a crucial moment for pandemic control,” Pang Xinghuo, the
deputy director of Beijing’s disease prevention and control centre,
told a press conference on Thursday. “Global infections are at high levels. Domestically, the pandemic is spreading widely and rapidly. We will stick to the ‘dynamic zero strategy’’.

There is growing dissatisfaction in Shanghai along with complaints of a lack of access to food.

The more the rate of infections grow, the larger are the risks to global growth and the global supply chain.

To soften the blow of the lockdowns, an increasing number of market watchers are looking for the PBOC to lower rates next Friday (Good Friday). Whatever they decide will set the tone for late next week and early into the following one.