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The Chinese Ministry of Commerce created a bit of a buying frenzy in the Asian country after suggesting that families ought to store an appropriate amount of essential daily necessities for "emergency need". Their unusual choice of phrasing understandly concerned many given that there was initially no specified motivation for it.
So, what reason was behind the vague warning? From supply chain disruptions to war, the speculation runs wild. Following up on the original memo, the Ministry has reassured its citizens that the advice was to make people prepared in case of temporary lockdowns to prevent COVID-19 spread.
Only recently, the Chinese government enforced a strict lockdown on the city of Lanzhou, which has over four million inhabitants, after six local cases of COVID-19 were reported. China has been focusing on a strict zero-COVID approach deploying lockdown and restrictions before cases become unmanageable.
China's strict policy has an eye on the Winter Olympics, which will take place in Beijing and Xingtai in just a few months. It is expected that there won’t be the same major restrictions there as seen in the Tokyo Olympic games this summer.
