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The Chinese Covid wave is apparently already approaching its peak for the time being; the first people who have recovered have already returned to work. However, this also means that a staggering number of people are currently acutely ill. Due to a lack of data, it is not possible to map the curve. But it is safe to assume that the curve is steeper in China than it has ever been in Germany.
Our analysis provides a snapshot of the mood in a country where the pandemic is still raging. The question of what the spread of the infection will mean for the Chinese and German economies is something we have only been able to briefly outline here – again due to a lack of hard data.
However, this very issue was the main focus of the government Economic Work Conference held last week. With the infection tsunami brewing, we initially had only one report on this. Today, we take a closer look at a core message of the important meeting: The leadership is once again turning its attention to private investors – and even finding words of encouragement for foreign industries.
Finn Mayer-Kuckuk
Feature
‘Everyone is sick here’
The pandemic situation in China has spiraled out of control even faster than initially feared. Within a week, the sickness rate skyrocketed. Company employees in several regions independently estimate that more than half of their staff is unable to work. “Several companies have either shut down or scaled back production,” says Joerg Wuttke, President of the EU Chamber of Commerce.
Volkswagen urges the remaining healthy workers at the Foshan plant to work overtime to keep operations going. The next concern is the breakdown of many long-haul truck drivers. This would again affect logistics and thus also deliveries to Europe. Epidemiologists expect several infection waves with a first peak in the near future. The next peak would then follow the New Year’s celebrations at the end of January.
Sick to work
The infection is fueled by, of all things, rules that were supposed to save the economy from needlessly high sick leaves. In Zhejiang, Anhui and Chongqing, employees are supposed to go to work even if they are sick, provided they do not show any symptoms. This keeps the company running in the short term, but in the next step, the remaining employees also become infected.
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