Police and various employees wear protective clothing indoors after new cases of Covid-19 are discovered in Shanghai, March 14, 2022. HECTOR RETHAMAL / AFP
China reported on Tuesday, March 15, 5280 cases of Covid-19 in the last twenty-four hours, the highest since the very first wave of the epidemic in early 2020. This estimate is more than double the figure announced the day before.
China, where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019, has largely managed to stem the epidemic with strict containment measures, but in recent months, the Omicron strain has infected many homes across the country.
If China’s performance remains modest compared to balance sheets recorded elsewhere in the world, they are high for the country. Officially, since the beginning of the epidemic, only about 120,000 Covid-19 patients (not counting asymptomatic ones) have been counted, as well as 4,636 deaths. The latest death from the coronavirus dates back to early 2021, according to authorities.
Over the past few days, many cities, even entire regions, have been quarantined. Nearly 30 million residents are currently unable to leave their homes, particularly in the tech metropolis of Shenzhen (south), at the gates of Hong Kong, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) estimates.
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Balance weighed down by Jilin Province
The measures have led to the closure of many factories, including Taiwanese giant Foxconn, Apple’s main supplier, in the metropolitan area of 17 million people. These economic disruptions, which are likely to further impact global supply chains, sent the Hong Kong Stock Exchange down almost 5% on Monday, falling back more than 3% on Tuesday at the open. Tech stocks are subject to the highest penalty.
“So far, the ports of Shenzhen and Shanghai continue to operate as usual. But quarantining those ports will exacerbate global supply problems, in addition to disruptions already caused by the Russo-Ukrainian war,” said economist Tommy Wu of Oxford Economics.
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But the resurgence of the epidemic is primarily seen at the other end of the vast country: Tuesday’s numbers were heavily affected by losses in Jilin Province (northeast), on the border with North Korea, a country that has escaped Covid, according to its authorities. In Jilin Province alone, more than 3,000 infections have been reported in the past 24 hours.
Shanghai, the country’s largest city, reported just nine new cases on Tuesday, but authorities have shut down many areas and residents fear widespread lockdowns. Many domestic flights were canceled Tuesday morning at the Shanghai airport, as well as in the capital Beijing, where only six new cases were announced.
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