As China faces the biggest outbreak since the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic, daily cases have started to double up. China's fresh Covid cases on Tuesday were more than twice the previous day. China's National Health Commission said 3,507 new locally spread cases had been identified in the latest 24-hour period, up from 1,337 a day earlier.
A fast-spreading variant known as “stealth omicron” is testing China's zero-tolerance strategy, which has previously kept the virus at bay after a deadly initial outbreak in early 2020.
Most of the new cases were in northeast China's Jilin province, where 2,601 were reported. Smaller outbreaks have broken out around the country, including in the major cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
While mainland China's numbers 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. As per reports, Hong Kong is currently under the fifth wave of Covid 19, and most cities in the country including Shanghai are under lockdown.
China banned most people from leaving a coronavirus-hit northeastern province and mobilized military reservists Monday as the fast-spreading “stealth omicron” variant fuels the country's biggest outbreak since the start of the pandemic two years ago.
(With inputs from AP)
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