Residents in Beijing were preparing for a possible nightmare scenario, rushing to buy food, toilet paper and other supplies, as the city's biggest district started testing 3.5m residents.

Foxconn Interconnect Technology, which makes data transmission equipment and connectors, has been forced to switch operations to a back-up factory, until work can restart at Kunshan

Sentiment was undermined by fears strict lockdown measures will spread to Beijing, after the capital required everyone living or working in Chaoyang district to take Covid tests this week

Millions sought food from the Alibaba's Freshippo after most supermarkets and stores shut, but the system was overloaded by a 200-300% rise in orders, company says

Operations at the plants located in Dianfa and Fuhong in northern Kunshan have been halted since last Wednesday

Officials in Beijing are on a "Covid-19 alert" and plan to test parts of the community in the Chinese capital after 15 new cases were found on Saturday, paper says

Local statistics officials said retail sales plummeted by 18.9% in March, while industrial output was also hit.

State officials say China needs to improve its air quality standards because pollution is still taking a serious toll on citizens' health.

Shanghai's long-running Covid lockdown continues while big cities and neighbouring states – Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore – are easing restrictions or set to open up.

Strict Covid lockdown measures halted production in key factories. The banking regulator says it will step up support to help restart production.

People's Bank of China governor Yi Gang said China's financial market is not immune to external shock and the pandemic has also applied more pressure

If approved in Japan, the drug would become the country's third antiviral cleared for coronavirus patients following those developed by Pfizer and Merck