Investing.com - As people in China return from their public holiday travels, a resurgence of COVID-19 cases has begun to affect the country's trading floors. While traders and banking sources report that a number of colleagues have recently contracted the virus or know someone who has tested positive, they expect this latest wave to have less impact on trading volume than previous pandemic-related disruptions.
In December, when China was gradually reopening its economy following three years of strict containment measures, COVID-19 spread throughout Beijing and Shanghai's financial hubs. This led to reduced trading volumes and forced regulators to postpone meetings. However, traders believe that the current situation will not result in such drastic consequences.
One reason for this is that quarantine measures are no longer being enforced for confirmed cases or close contacts. As a result, it is anticipated that this second wave will only slow down overall efficiency within the industry rather than causing widespread disruption.
Tommy Xie, head of Greater China research at OCBC Bank suggests that as global reopening experiences show similar trends; "impact from COVID shocks should become smaller and smaller." In fact, average daily US dollar/yuan trade volumes in China's interbank market have only seen a slight decrease so far.
Despite the World Health Organization no longer considering COVID-19 as an international health emergency, Chinese health authorities noted an increase in case numbers during the Labor Day break through May 3rd. Nevertheless, there hasn't been any significant uptick in severe hospitalizations related to these infections.
Liu Qing from National Administration of Disease Prevention and Control explains that while regional outbreaks may occur due to increased travel during holidays; it does not pose major threats over short-term medical treatment capacities nor social operations management.
Some banks like state-owned ones have implemented rapid antigen tests for employees who felt unwell, but there are no specific protocols in place for those who test positive. Traders and other financial professionals are taking extra precautions to protect themselves from the virus, as they continue to navigate this new wave of COVID-19 cases on China's trading floors.