China’s top leadership gave no indication this Friday of any imminent relaxation of its zero-tolerance policy for the spread of the omicron strain COVID-19, CNBC writes.

Against this backdrop, some businesses have resumed production in Shanghai and northern China. But the country’s capital, Beijing temporarily closed a major luxury shopping mall and minor businesses in the same business district on Friday to control the ongoing surge of cases of the virus.

Authorities assured that specific measures to control the virus may sacrifice the comfort of life for some regions and people, affecting the economy of some localities in the country in the short term.

At an economic meeting led by Xi Jinping, which is regularly held with China’s leadership and known as the Politburo, the leaders said COVID-19 and the Ukraine crisis have exacerbated problems and uncertainty for the domestic economy. New characteristics of the virus mutation were noted and the need to adhere to a dynamic zero-tolerance policy for COVID-19 was reiterated. This means that the COVID-19 policy will not weaken anytime soon.

Leaders called for more policy support to achieve the GDP target of around 5.5%.

Amid the spread of the virus in China, many investment banks have lowered their GDP forecast for the country to 3.9%. Mainland China reported more than 5,600 new confirmed cases of the virus on Thursday, with most of them linked to Shanghai.

Beijing has imposed a self-imposed isolation regime in several neighborhoods, mass testing for the virus and travel restrictions to control new outbreaks of cases. Beijing SKP, the capital’s largest luxury goods shopping center, has closed for quarantine and no date has been given for reopening. It came after city authorities confirmed 3 cases of the disease in a residential area nearby. City authorities said the department store’s sales reached 17.7 billion yuan ($2.72 billion) in 2020 and ranked first in the world.

China’s state media said gyms, movie theaters and other non-essential businesses around Beijing were to be closed for quarantine, and city authorities were conducting mass testing of residents and business employees.

New cases have been reported in more than 15 other provincial-level regions, including the export provinces of Shandong, Guangdong and Zhejiang.

Meanwhile, in Shanghai, the situation with the virus is improving significantly and factories are picking up the slack: the city’s authorities have tried to allow some large enterprises to resume production, publishing about 2 weeks ago a list of 666 companies that can be prioritized to resume operations.

Just over a third, or 247, of the companies are foreign-funded, the country’s Commerce Ministry said Thursday.

German automaker Volkswagen and U.S.-based Tesla have resumed production, while other foreign companies have applied to join the white list.

Shipping trucks between ports and factories remains problematic for now. Sellers have to pay more for logistics: these costs are now around 25% of selling prices, compared to 15% or 20% at the start of the pandemic.