April 19, 2022—After a weeks-long citywide lockdown, Shanghai is expected to resume production at some of its key manufacturing sites, including some in the automotive field.
According to Yahoo! Sports, major companies in automobile production, semiconductor production, and biomedicines need to submit plans about how they will guard against COVID-19 spread. Upon review of said plans, local health authorities will then determine if these companies will be able to resume operations in a "closed-loop" system.
"Closed-loop" systems allow for tighter control amidst rising COVID-19 cases in China. When these systems are implemented within companies, workers essentially live at their workplace in order to avoid contact with outside individuals.
"Shanghai's anti-coronavirus control and prevention measures have dealt a huge blow to the automotive industry alone," said David Zhang, a researcher at the North China University of Technology in the article. "The lockdown brought nearly all the thousands of automotive supply-chain firms based in Shanghai to a standstill. This is a serious problem that needs to be tackled as soon as possible."
Resuming production would not be easy, as the city is lacking some of its usual manpower, and supply chain issues continue to cause delays. However, ensuring that some semblance of "business-as-usual" continues for these manufacturers may prove necessary in order for them to avoid going completely broke.
Shanghai's citywide lockdown officially began on April 5, but the majority of its major manufacturers had to stop production on April 1 when an unofficial shutdown was implemented across the city.
