China today recorded its highest number of Covid-19 cases since May and millions of people across the country are spending the weekend under lockdown as a strict ‘zero Covid’ policy is implemented.
China is the last major country in the world to try to eradicate the epidemic through lockdowns, long quarantine periods and mass testing, even though this strategy has a large impact on the economy.
A total of 450 Covid-19 cases, most of them asymptomatic, were recorded nationwide today, up from 432 a day earlier, according to authorities.
This increase in cases led this week to the adoption of new restrictions in many areas of the country.
Authorities in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province (northwest), ordered 4.4 million residents to stay at home on Wednesday. One of the counties of Anhui Province (east) has been under lockdown since yesterday.
Earlier this week, a general lockdown was imposed in Wugang, a major steelmaking center in Henan province (central China), after just one case of Covid-19 was detected.
In Beihai, Guangxi province (south), authorities today announced a partial lockdown in two areas home to more than 800,000 people.
“Currently, the epidemic prevention and control situation in Beihai City is serious and complicated, and the risk of uncontrolled transmission in the community is relatively high,” according to a statement from local authorities.
The Omicron variant, which spreads much faster, poses a serious challenge to China’s ‘zero Covid cases’ policy. The country saw its economic growth slow in the second quarter, posting its worst performance since 2020, largely due to health restrictions.
Source: Capital
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