Economic impact

But in recent days the usually bustling financial centre has been stopped in its tracks after a spike in coronavirus cases.

With little notice, officials imposed two staggered waves of lockdowns on the city's more than 26m residents. The eastern side of Shanghai has just been through four days of tight restrictions. The western part began its four-day isolation on 1 April.

The latest round of quarantining is China's largest since the coronavirus outbreak was first identified in Wuhan at the end of 2019.

It has been estimated that the pandemic will cause a 20% decline in the amount of remittances sent by migrants back home to low- and middle-income countries. This is due to loss of wages and employment by migrants alongside restrictions placed on remittances providers during lockdown.