China premier issues warning on Covid-hit economy

China’s premier has sounded an unusually stark warning about the world’s second-largest economy, saying it must return to normal as the country’s zero-Covid strategy bites into growth. China is the last major economy welded to a policy of mass testing and hard lockdowns to eliminate virus clusters, but the strict curbs have battered businesses. Restrictions around the nation in recent months — including on the manufacturing hubs of Shenzhen and Shanghai as well as the breadbasket province of Jilin — have tangled supply chains and dragged economic indicators to their lowest levels in around two years. In some ways, the…