China’s lockdown of many factories in the Yangtze River Delta last week in a prolonged battle with Covid-19 has underlined the economic costs of China’s stringent pandemic-control measures.

The sudden lockdown of districts in the cities of Shaoxing and Ningbo in Zhejiang province has left business owners scrambling to pacify clients over delayed deliveries and listed companies apologizing to shareholders for expected losses.

Two years since China reported its first Covid-19 case in Wuhan, the government still tries to smother the virus with lockdowns, mass testing and quarantine wherever it emerges. Constant disruptions to local businesses and people’s lives under Beijing’s “zero-tolerance” Covid-19 policy have added to recent headwinds for the economy.

Last year, China’s draconian lockdown measures helped restart the economy well ahead of other major nations, which meant a boost to its exports. This year, it is becoming clear that authorities’ stringent measures to control outbreaks come with economic costs.