Tens of thousands of beds for isolation wards, regular Covid tests for 25 million people, barriers, controls – not to mention lost tax revenue caused by all the business closures: The cost of zero Covid for China’s municipalities is enormous. Only a handful of economic sectors in Shanghai currently operate halfway efficiently. The port, for example, or the stock exchange – or online food delivery services. According to a report in the South China Morning Post, one month of lockdown alone will reduce Shanghai’s aggregate real income by 2.7 percent.