China shuts down city of 17.5m people in bid to halt Covid outbreak

Authorities adopt a zero tolerance policy in Shenzhen, imposing a lockdown and testing every resident three times

China's government has locked down Shenzhen, a city of 17.5 million people, as it tries to contain its worst ever Covid-19 outbreak across multiple provinces, with case numbers tripling from Saturday to Sunday.

A government notice on Sunday said all residential communities were now under closed management", meaning they would be locked down. Every resident would undergo three rounds of testing, for which they were allowed to leave their homes, and all buses and subways were suspended.