China sees it's largest Covid-19 spike in two years - a podcast by BBC World Service

First on the programme - we look at how as parts of the globe are abandoning restrictions, areas of China are back in lockdown in the face of rising case numbers. It's affecting the north-eastern region of Jilin, and also the southern city of Shenzhen, which is a key manufacturing centre. Andy Xie is in independent economist based in Shanghai. He explained what was happening.

Next - the relationship between the Russian and Chinese leaders is exceptionally close, but if China were to assist Russia more directly, what would the consequences be on the global stage? Edward White is China Correspondent for the Financial Times talks us through the current tensions between The West and China.We then spoke to our regular analyst, Michael Hughes, and we addressed the widely circulating theory that - economically - we've returned to a previous age.

We then hear from Ann Soy of The BBC's Focus on Africa programme discussing food shortages in Africa as a consequence of the Ukraine crises with the United States Ambassador the UN, Linda Thomas Greenfield.Lastly, for weeks now on World Business Report we've been looking at the Ukraine conflict, western sanctions on Russia and the effects on the economy there. There's a real danger of talking about high level political discussions and quoting a lot of big numbers, but losing track of how this actually affects ordinary people in the country. In this edition of The World Business report we spoke to two online bloggers, who make videos explaining Russian life to the rest of the world.

Producer: Gabriele Shaw | Presenter: David Harper

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