China placed 1.7 million people under lockdown in central Anhui province, where authorities reported nearly 300 new cases Monday in the latest of a string of outbreaks testing Beijing's no-tolerance approach to COVID-19.

U.S. crude oil price settled below $100 a barrel on Tuesday to its lowest level in two weeks as the demand outlook was pressured by coronavirus lockdowns in China and growing recession risks, while a strong dollar made crude more expensive for buyers using other currencies.

World oil demand growth will slow in 2023, OPEC delegates and industry sources said, as surging crude and fuel prices help drive up inflation

Beijing reported the highest number of daily Covid-19 cases in three weeks, with the capital moving to re-impose some restrictions just days after starting to ease them and appearing to avoid a broad lockdown like Shanghai.

Parts of Shanghai began imposing new lockdown restrictions on Thursday, with residents of sprawling Minhang district ordered to stay home for two days in a bid to control COVID-19 transmission risks.

U.S. crude oil price settled below $100 a barrel on Tuesday to its lowest level in two weeks as the demand outlook was pressured by coronavirus lockdowns in China and growing recession risks, while a strong dollar made crude more expensive for buyers using other currencies.

Shanghai authorities on Tuesday began dismantling fences around housing compounds and ripping police tape off public squares and buildings, to the relief of the city's 25 million residents, before a painful two-month lockdown is lifted at midnight.

A headache-prone Pokemon character given away in KFC children's meals has become China's most wanted toy, selling for up to $200, as people seek ways to express their frustrations over COVID-19 lockdowns.

North Korea has lifted movement restrictions imposed in the capital Pyongyang after its first admission of Covid-19 outbreak weeks ago.

Shanghai announced on Sunday further steps towards returning to more normal life and lifting a two-month COVID-19 lockdown this week, while Beijing reopened parts of its public transport, some malls, gyms and other venues as infections stabilised.

Apple has reportedly told its suppliers to speed up iPhone development after China's strict COVID-19 lockdowns has hampered schedule for at least one of the new phones. Meanwhile, Shanghai remains largely paralysed by a city-wide lockdown, which is now in its seventh week.

Beijing stepped up quarantine efforts to end its month-old COVID outbreak as fresh signs of frustration emerged in Shanghai, where some bemoaned unfair curbs with the city of 25 million preparing to lift a prolonged lockdown in just over a week.

Reeling under the mismanagement of Xi Jinping's Zero-Covid Policy, parts of Beijing have again come under a lockdown on Sunday, as the pandemic outbreak continues to spread in more and more cities in China.

More Shanghai residents were given the freedom to go out to shop for groceries for the first time in nearly two months on Thursday as authorities set out more plans for exiting the city-wide COVID-19 lockdown more fully.

For the last 65 days Laura Hudson has been on a mission to leave China, navigating through all of its COVID restrictions to get back to the United States.

Millions of people in Beijing stayed home on Monday as China's capital tries to fend off a Covid-19 outbreak with creeping restrictions on movement.

As per a report, videos posted online showed more than a hundred Quanta workers physically overwhelming security guards in hazmat suits and vaulting over factory gates to escape being trapped inside the Shanghai factory amid rumours that workers on the floor that day tested positive for COVID.

Shanghai is tightening its already strict COVID-19 lockdown in a fresh push to eliminate infections outside quarantined areas of China's biggest city by late this month, people familiar with the matter said.

Veronica thought she did everything right by sticking to all of the COVID-19 lockdown rules in the Chinese city of Shanghai.

China is determined to implement its "zero COVID" policy arguing that it can save many lives, pointing to the millions of COVID deaths in other countries.

Shanghai residents, at the hands of China's Zero-Covid policy, are being subjected to unprecedented neglect, mistreatment, and abuse, with leaked videos on social media confirming blatant human rights violations.

Dozens of metro stations and bus routes in Beijing have been shut down as COVID continues to spread and millions of residents in Shanghai still remain under strict lockdown even after more than a month.

Shanghai's outbreak, which began in March, has been China's worst since the early months of the pandemic in 2020.

Shanghai said it detected no new COVID-19 cases outside quarantine areas on Friday, hitting a key milestone in its battle to contain the virus, which has paralysed the city of 25 million and seen Beijing scramble to avert a similar crisis.