In a single day, China records over 3,200 Covid cases.
Key takeaways:
- On Sunday, China reported more than 3,200 domestic Covid-19 cases, including 1,807 symptomatic cases, the most in over two years.
- A total of 1,455 symptomless cases were reported, with 140 of them coming from outside the mainland, according to the NHC.
- The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases on the mainland, both local and imported, had risen to 115,466 by Saturday, according to the NHC.
China reported over 3,200 domestic Covid-19 cases on Sunday, including 1,807 symptomatic cases, the highest number in over two years, resulting in new lockdowns and travel restrictions in 19 provinces.
Saturday's caseload of 1,807 was more than triple the previous day's caseload of 476.
The recent nationwide spike in cases has health officials scrambling to contain localized clusters of both Omicron and Delta strains of the infection.
While the number of Covid-19 cases in China is far lower than in many other countries, the sudden increase in cases could complicate Beijing's "dynamic-clearance" policy to contain the outbreak as soon as possible.
According to an official, the city of Jilin has been partially shut down, with hundreds of neighborhoods sealed off, while Yanji, a city of nearly 700,000 people on the border with North Korea, has been completely shut down.
In several cities, lockdowns have been ordered, and schools in Shanghai, China's financial capital, have been ordered closed.
Jilin, a city in northeast China's commonly named Jilin province, had the highest number of new infections (1,412). "As of Sunday, Jilin province had 2,052 confirmed cases and 1527 asymptomatic cases, involving at least seven towns within the province, with severe outbreaks in Jilin and Changchun," according to Chinese state media.
According to Zhang Yan of the Jilin provincial health commission, local authorities' virus response has been lacking so far.
"In some areas, the emergency response mechanism is insufficiently robust, and there is a lack of understanding of the Omicron variant's characteristics... At a press conference on Sunday, AFP quoted Zhang said, "and judgment has been inaccurate."
The high count of infections in Jilin is due to several factors. "...is due to a lack of medical resources in the few regions in the face of a rapidly escalating epidemic situation and a defective emergence response by some individual govts who failed to test, quarantine, and treat residents as required," according to the tabloid Global Times.
According to the NHC, a total of 1,455 symptomless cases were reported, with 140 of them coming from outside the mainland.
After Premier Li Keqiang stated the country's zero-Covid responses would be fine-tuned to avoid economic disruptions, the NHC authorized Covid-19 rapid antigen tests for public use on Friday.
According to state media, Chinese Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan urged regions experiencing serious epidemic outbreaks to maintain the country's dynamic zero-case policy to clear Covid-19 cases between the general public as quickly as possible.
According to the NHC, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases on the mainland, both local as well as imported, had risen to 115,466 by Saturday.
On Saturday, there were 7,230 patients still receiving treatment, with six of them in critical condition.
Since the disease's first discovery in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, a total of 4,636 people have died from the virus on the mainland.