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Chinese health authorities on Sunday reported over 3,400 new Covid-19 cases, which was double than the cases registered on the previous day, forcing lockdowns on virus hotspots as the country battles its gravest outbreak in two years.
China, where the virus was first detected in late 2019, has maintained a strict ‘zero-Covid’ policy enforced by swift lockdowns, travel restrictions and mass testing when clusters emerged.
The latest flare-up, driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant and a spike in asymptomatic cases has led to concerns over the new surge.
Cause for Concern?
The number of domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms reported for Saturday rose sharply from 476 the previous day, data from the National Health Commission showed on Sunday. The 1,807 daily count included 114 initially classified as asymptomatic who developed symptoms later on Saturday.
China’s current case count is far fewer than those of many other countries, but the growing number could complicate Beijing’s “dynamic-clearance” ambition to suppress contagion as quickly as possible.
Omicron has prompted health authorities to allow the general public to buy rapid self-test kits for the first time to help detect infections quickly, as some experts said China’s earlier testing strategy based on nucleic acid test that requires medical workers to take samples has become harder with the fast-spreading variant.
Lockdowns Imposed
A nationwide surge in cases has seen authorities closing schools in Shanghai and lock down several north-eastern cities, as almost 19 provinces battle clusters of the Omicron and Delta variants.
The city of Jilin has been partially locked down, with hundreds of neighbourhoods sealed up, an official announced Sunday, while Yanji, an urban area of nearly 700,000 bordering North Korea, was fully closed off.
The neighbouring city of Changchun — an industrial base of nine million people — was locked down Friday.
The smaller cities of Siping and Dunhua, both in Jilin province, were locked down Thursday and Friday, according to official announcements.
The mayor of Jilin and the head of the Changchun health commission were dismissed from their jobs Saturday, state media reported, in a sign of the political imperative placed on local authorities to squash virus clusters.
Covid-Fatigue?
But fatigue with the strict approach has been showing in China, with officials increasingly urging softer and more targeted measures to contain the virus, while economists warn that tough clampdowns are hurting the economy.
As cases have climbed since late February, the response in different parts of the country has been generally softer and more targeted compared to December, when the city of Xi’an and its 13 million people were locked down for two weeks.
In China’s biggest city Shanghai, authorities have increasingly moved to temporarily lock down individual schools, businesses, restaurants and malls over close-contact fears rather than mass quarantines.
Long lines have been seen outside hospitals in the city as people rush to obtain a negative Covid test.
Massive Testing
As cases rise, the country’s National Health Commission announced Friday that they would introduce the use of rapid antigen tests. The kits will now be available online or at pharmacies for clinics and ordinary citizens to buy for “self-testing”, the health commission said.
But the government has also made clear that mass lockdowns remain an option. Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, who frequently telegraphs top-level thinking on the pandemic response, on Saturday urged regions to quickly pounce on and clear outbreaks.
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