Why world’s largest electronics market has been shut down

China’s technology hub Shenzhen on Monday ordered the closure of the world’s largest electronics wholesale market to contain a recent spike in coronavirus cases in the southern city, amidst a call by a leading Chinese think tank for a change in the country’s ‘zero-COVID’ policy that it said was causing widespread disruption of business.

Merchants in the Huaqiangbei district, home to the world’s largest electronics market, received an official notice that the market will be closed till Thursday to contain the COVID spread.