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| Edited By: DNA Web Team |Source: DNA Web Desk |Updated: Mar 14, 2022, 12:33 PM IST
China is facing its worst ever Covid-19 crisis since Wuhan outbreak as cases have tripled in the recent weeks, reported news agency PTI. The new locally transmitted cases in China surged to more than 3,100 cases in a single day, the National Health Commission reported on Sunday.
Amid the rapid resurgence of Covid-19 cases, two of the country’s biggest cities, Shenzhen and Shanghai, have imposed strict virus measures. Some local authorities have attributed the surge in cases to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Earlier, China reported 1,000 new cases each day for two consecutive days in a row. After cases surged, the Chinese government put the high-tech Shenzhen city under lockdown. The city has a population of over 17 million. Shenzhen will seal all communities, villages and suspend bus and metro services from Monday to Sunday, as reported earlier.
Read | China’s daily Covid cases exceed 1,000 for the first time since Wuhan outbreak
10 developments on the story
Covid-19 pandemic first broke out in Wuhan in December 2019, before it spread to almost all parts of the world, claiming over 6 million lives so far.
Cases in China have risen at a time when the whole world has done away with lockdowns due to the drastic fall in the number of Covid-19 cases.
On Saturday, Jilin city in China was partially locked down while Yanjim an urban area of 700,000 people, was placed under lockdown on Sunday.
16 provinces of China reported new cases of Covid-19 infections, as did the four mega cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing.
Changchun, an industrial base of nine million people, was locked down on Friday while a few other cities have been closed down since March 1.
Some local health authorities have attributed the surge to the Omicron variant, which is more transmissible but causes less severe symptoms.
Besides total lockdowns, authorities are also imposing local curbs on schools, restaurants, malls and other public places to control the spread.
In Shanghai, for example, authorities have temporarily shut down schools, businesses, restaurants and malls to check the spread of Covid-19.
China will allow the use of rapid antigen tests to diagnose Covid-19 for the first time. This has been done to boost the early discovery of cases.
The situation in Hong Kong has also deteriorated further. Officials confirmed 27,647 new Covid-19 cases and 87 deaths in Hong Kong on Sunday.
(With PTI Inputs)