INFECTIONS are delivering a fresh kick in the teeth for many small businesses in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, despite most stringent Covid regulations being lifted last week.

Hopes of brighter prospects after the end of lockdowns are evaporating, as the sick and those fearing infections keep to their homes. The government also shows few signs of stepping in to help.

“I simply can’t go on,” said Zhu Chongping, 60, as he looked around his empty restaurant, which dishes up regional cuisine in the city of 11 million where the Covid-19 pandemic began three years ago. “I’m losing money every day – 1,000 yuan (S$194) a day.”

The challenges that small businesses like Zhu’s face spotlight how Beijing’s shift away from tough Covid policies would likely depress growth over the next few months as infections surge. This contrasts the promise of driving an economic recovery next year.

Looking forlorn, Zhu added that business last Saturday was the worst it had been since he first opened his doors 30 years ago. Most eateries along the normally buzzing food street where his restaurant is located were shut or empty.

He said that the easing of zero-Covid measures, which followed unprecedented protests, has led to an outlook even bleaker than what he experienced in 2020, during Wuhan’s 76-day lockdown. 

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During the 2020 lockdown, local authorities rolled out rent subsidies and consumer vouchers to support businesses. But this year, there are few signs that they would offer similar measures. Zhu added that his landlord would not offer a discount on his rent this year.

“This street is considered a top location in Wuhan,” he said. “Now there is no one about. You can imagine that other locations are even worse.”

The only queue within several hundred metres of his restaurant was outside a pharmacy, where people were waiting to stock up on medicine to treat Covid symptoms.

“My business is struggling to stay afloat,” said the owner of a bag store on nearby Hanzheng Street, home to one of China’s biggest wholesale-clothing markets and the site of a large anti-lockdown protest last month.

“We have to see what happens next year,” added the 48-year-old, surnamed Liang. “We have to see what the footfall will be like. If things are still the same next year, vendors will have to leave.”

Many other shopkeepers told Reuters they had zero or “no business”.

The scarcity of customers is having a knock-on effect on other industries, further hurting growth as China grapples with an economic downturn this year.

Huang, the owner of an advertising business, said: “There are not many new stores opening and not many new businesses starting, so our business cannot get going, and we are facing layoffs.”

People just do not have much money anymore, said a Wuhan taxi driver, surnamed Sun. He agreed that subsidies had made the 2020 lockdown more manageable than this year’s measures.

“With all these lockdowns, I’ve earned nothing for weeks,” he said. “Now, it’s a tiny bit better, but I can only make enough to pay back the company my monthly taxi-rental fee.”

Surveys showed that factory activity shrank in November amid widespread Covid curbs, while exports and imports fell at their steepest pace in at least 2.5 years, piling more pressure on the slowing economy.

Chen Zhiwu, a finance professor at the University of Hong Kong, said that authorities probably hoped that infections usher in sufficient immunity within three or four months. Small and medium-sized businesses would then be able to rebound.

“Of course, in the process, the country will suffer from the shock therapy,” he added. “I hope it will be able to sustain the shock.” REUTERS