China locks down entire buildings and even cities as “stealth omicron” variant fuels record COVID cases

Taipei, Taiwan – China forbade most people to go to coronavirus– It hit the northeastern province and mobilized military reservists on Monday, as the rapidly spreading “stealthy omicron” variant has been fueling the country’s biggest outbreak since the pandemic began two years ago.

The National Health Commission reported 1,337 cases of local transmission in the last 24-hour period, including 895 in Jilin Industrial Province. A government notice said police permission would be required for people to leave the area or travel from one city to another.

The hard-hit province sent 7,000 reservists to help with the response, from maintaining order and registering people at test centers to using drones to carry out aerial fumigation and disinfection, state channel CCTV reported.

Hundreds of cases were reported in other provinces and cities on the east coast of China and inland. Beijing, which had six news cases, and Shanghai, 41, closed residential and office buildings where infected people had been found.

“Every day when I go to work, I’m worried that if our office building is suddenly closed, I won’t be able to go home, so I bought a sleeping bag and saved some fast food at the office in advance. just in case, “said Yimeng Li, a Shanghai resident.

Although mainland China’s figures are small compared to many other countries, and even the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong, they are the highest since COVID-19 killed thousands in the central city of Wuhan in early 2020. No deaths have been reported in China. last shoots.

Hong Kong reported 26,908 new cases and 249 deaths in its last 24-hour period on Monday. The city counts its cases differently than the mainland, combining both rapid antigen testing and PCR results.

City leader Carrie Lam said authorities will not tighten pandemic restrictions for the time being. “I have to consider whether the public, if people would accept more measures,” he said at a news conference.

Mainland China has seen relatively few infections since last year Wuhan’s initial outbreak as the government has firmly adhered to its zero-tolerance strategy, which focuses on stopping coronavirus transmission relying on strict blockages and mandatory quarantine for anyone who has come in contact with a positive case.

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The government has indicated that it will continue to maintain its strategy of stopping broadcasting for the time being.

Officials closed the southern city of Shenzhen, which has 17.5 million people and is a major technology and financial center bordering Hong Kong, on Sunday. This followed the Changchun confinement9 million people live in Jilin Province as of last Friday.

On Monday, Zhang Wenhong, a leading infectious disease expert at a hospital affiliated with Shanghai Fudan University, said in an essay for China’s Caixin Business Store that the continent’s figures were still in the early stages of ‘an exponential increase’.

China’s large passenger rail network said it would significantly reduce service, and both China Railway and airlines said they would offer free refunds to people who had already bought tickets. Shanghai has suspended bus service to other cities and provinces.

Shanghai reported 713 cases in March, of which 632 were asymptomatic. China counts positive and asymptomatic cases separately in its national numbers. Schools in China’s largest city have moved on to distance learning.

In Beijing, several buildings were closed over the weekend. Residents said they were willing to follow zero tolerance policies despite any personal impact.

“I think only when the epidemic is completely eradicated will we be able to relieve ourselves,” said Tong Xin, 38, who owns a store in Silk Market, a tourist mall in the Chinese capital.

Much of the current outbreak in Chinese cities is being driven by the variant commonly known as the “stealthy omicron” or the BA2 lineage of the omicron variant, Zhang said. Early research suggests that it spreads faster than the original omicron, which spread faster than the original virus and other variants.

“But if our country opens quickly now, it will cause a large number of infections in people in a short period of time,” Zhang wrote on Monday. “No matter how low the mortality rate, it will still cause a use of medical resources and a short-term shock to social life, causing irreparable harm to families and society.”

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• covid-19 vaccine
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• confinement
• China