China's zero-Covid policy to hit Asia aviation recovery: IATA

China's zero-Covid policy will hold back a full air travel recovery in the Asia-Pacific region, a top airline industry group warned Tuesday, adding to calls for Beijing to ease its hardline stance.

The world's second-biggest economy is seeking to stamp out the coronavirus entirely, with rapid lockdowns and mass testing, and the measures have hammered both domestic and international air travel.

The aviation sector's recovery in Asia was already relatively slow, and Willie Walsh, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) chief, warned Beijing's approach made the picture bleaker.

"It has been a brutal two years for airlines. But we are seeing signs of recovery now," he told an aviation conference in Singapore.

"Unfortunately, (the) Asia-Pacific region will lag this recovery as China continues to pursue zero-Covid."

In 2021 in Asia, international travel was only seven percent of what it was in 2019, compared with a worldwide figure of 25 percent, he said.

While the picture had improved at the start of this year, there was still a "long way to go", he added.

China's decision to stick with zero-Covid has put it at odds with many Asian governments, which have started reopening borders and dropping quarantine and testing requirements in recent months.

"The science supports these initiatives," Walsh told the Changi Aviation Summit, attended by top industry officials.

IATA is "convinced that this science supports the removal of testing and quarantine for unvaccinated travellers from areas of high population immunity, including many parts of this region," he said.

China, the last major economy still closed off to the world, is facing mounting calls to drop the zero-Covid policy which has left millions in Shanghai locked down for weeks.

Last week, the World Health Organization said the approach was unsustainable.

Shanghai says 'zero-Covid' achieved but millions still in lockdown
Shanghai (AFP) May 17, 2022 - Shanghai on Tuesday declared it had achieved "zero-Covid" across all its districts, sparking derision on social media as millions in China's biggest city remained under lockdown.

Confronted with its worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic, China -- the last major economy still closed off to the world -- put the city of 25 million under heavy restrictions in early April.

The government's insistence on squashing the Omicron variant-driven outbreak prompted rare protests and angry scuffles with authorities as Shanghai residents reject the prolonged confinement and food shortages.

"All 16 districts of Shanghai have already achieved zero-Covid at the community level," Shanghai health commission official Zhao Dandan told reporters on Tuesday.

That means none of the over 1,000 new infections recorded on Tuesday was detected outside of quarantined areas, city authorities said.

Vice mayor Chen Tong said Sunday that the city would gradually reopen businesses starting this week, without giving specifics.

But millions in Shanghai were still unable to leave their residential compounds on Tuesday.

More than 3.8 million people officially were still under the strictest forms of lockdown in the city, according to official figures.

China's strategy to achieve zero Covid cases includes strict border closures, length quarantines, mass testing and rapid, targeted lockdowns.

Social media erupted in disbelief at the gap between official statements and the reality of life under an enduring lockdown.

"Since society has reached Covid-zero, why are people in Songjiang district still only allowed to go out once every two days?" a blogger on the Twitter-like Weibo asked.

"Is this a parallel universe Shanghai?" asked another.

In some areas of the city, restrictions have even been quietly tightened in recent days.

Live video broadcast Tuesday by Chinese media showed crowds gathering at Shanghai's Hongqiao Railway Station as train services leaving the city resumed.

People are only allowed to leave Shanghai after receiving permission and taking multiple Covid tests.

China has shown no sign of giving up its protracted struggle to maintain zero Covid cases, despite the mounting economic costs of miserable retail, house and car sales and climbing unemployment.

Beijing is mass testing residents almost every day after a surge in cases -- counted in the dozens each day but still enough to prompt tight restrictions on movement and association.

Millions of people in the capital have been ordered to work from home and transport services have been suspended as people feared a repeat of Shanghai's lockdown chaos.

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