China’s daily local symptomatic Covid cases nearly double to 402

BEIJING: Mainland China reported 402 locally transmitted Covid-19 infections with confirmed symptom for March 9, official data showed on Thursday, nearly doubling from the daily count a day earlier.

Of the new local symptomatic infections, 165 were in the northeastern province of Jilin, the national health commission said in a statement. That marks the highest daily count for the province since China contained its first national outbreak in early 2020.

The number of new domestically transmitted asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, was 435, a near two-year high.

Still, China’s caseload is tiny by global standards. The country is sticking to its “dynamic-clearing” playbook where local authorities scramble to identify and quarantine every infection and their close contacts quickly and impose varied degree of curbs to cut transmission.

In the city of Jilin, the hardest hit area in the latest flare-up in Jilin province and battling an outbreak where a sub-strain of Omicron has been found, business operations in its urban areas have been closed for a week with exceptions being made for those responsible for providing essential services and businesses requiring continuous production.

People will not be allowed out of their homes in general during March 7-13, except for matters such as seeking medical services or going for urgent work, according to the city government. One person from each household will be allowed out each day to shop for necessities.

There were no new deaths for March 9, leaving the death toll unchanged at 4,636.

As of March 9, mainland China had reported 1,12,385 cases with confirmed symptoms, including local ones and those arriving from outside mainland.