It is no secret that the Covid-19 outbreak has had a significant impact on the world, with many countries facing restrictions due to the virus. In China, the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has meant that restrictions have been threatening supply chains. Breaking these restrictions has meant that sentences of up to almost 5 years have been handed out to port workers.
The senior management of a port cargo-handling company in Dalian have been charged by the courts a total of up to 57 months in prison for breaching Covid-19 containment rules. The country’s restrictions have been intensified with the new strain of Omicron, in an attempt to eradicate the virus.
Why were they jailed?
The owner of the business, as well as his son and the company manager, have been sentenced to between 39 and 57 months in prison for breaking Covid-19 containment rules and regulations. Some of the rules that were. Broken include not requiring employees to wear masks and protective clothing when handling cargo in late 2020.
The breaches also meant that there was a Covid outbreak in the city, according to court documents, which then meant that the company was fined Rmb800,000 ($126,000).
The prison sentences were handed to the members of the company, as Chinese authorities had tightened restrictions in areas that were hit by Omicron outbreaks.
Compulsory testing for all residents was enforced by authorities in Tianjin, a city 14 million about 120km east of Beijing, after 36 symptomatic cases were discovered, according to a state news agency Xinhua.
The Omicron variant
The lockdown in China, and all over the globe, have threatened to disrupt global supply chains and companies have warned of potential risks to manufacturing.
Damage to supply chains due to the Omicron variant in Asia could be more destructive than any previous Covid-19 variants, Frederic Neumann, HSBC co-head of Asia economics research has warned.
“Given the extraordinarily high transmissibility of this variant, the risks are rising of major outbreaks across the region. Even Hong Kong and mainland China, shielded by some of the world’s toughest external quarantine measures, have seen Omicron slip through their defences,” he said.
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