Thirty million people in 13 cities across China have been quarantined again due to Covid-19, and officials in hazmat suits have returned to the streets on a scale not seen since the start of the pandemic.
On Tuesday, China reported 5,280 new cases of Covid-19, more than double the previous day’s figure, as a highly transmissible variant of Omicron spread across the country, which was firmly committed to a zero-Covid strategy.
This approach, which is based on hard localized quarantine restrictions and effectively left China effectively cut off from the outside world for two years, seems to be stretched to the limit as Omicron infiltrates communities.
At least 13 cities across the country were in full lockdown as of Tuesday, with several others in partial lockdowns, with about 15,000 cases nationwide reported in March.
Scenes of closed neighborhoods, panic buying and police cordons allude to the early phase of the pandemic that first broke out in China in late 2019.
While cases of the chaotic initial outbreak in Wuhan in early 2020 are widely believed to be underreported, life in China has largely returned to normal since then thanks to its strict approach to Covid zero.
2022: Officials in hazmat suits have returned to the streets on a scale not seen since the start of the pandemic after China on Tuesday reported 5,280 new cases of Covid-19 and plunged nearly thirty million people into virus isolation again, as Beijing strives to zero covid policy
2020: Employees line up at attention as they prepare to spray disinfectant at China’s Wuhan railway station at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Health officials urged people over 60 to get vaccinated, including a third booster, as soon as possible.
About 80 percent of people in this age group have been vaccinated twice, according to official figures, but Beijing is watching the situation at the border in Hong Kong with concern, which now has the highest death rate from the virus in the world due to low vaccination rates among its elderly residents. .
Health spokesman Jiao Yahui said at a press briefing on Tuesday that “the risk of severe illness is very high” for people in this age group.
The northeastern province of Jilin has been hardest hit by Omicron, with more than 3,000 new cases reported on Tuesday, according to the National Health Commission.
Residents of several cities, including the nine million provincial capital Changchun, are under ban.
Health officials said more than 8,200 residents of Jilin Province are currently hospitalized, with the vast majority of them experiencing mild or no symptoms.
On Tuesday, China reported 5,280 new cases of Covid-19, more than doubling the previous day’s figure as a highly contagious variant of Omicron spread across the country.
Workers in hazmat suits disinfect themselves in the snow at a nucleic acid testing site in Changchun on Tuesday.
An official in protective gear sits in front of a barrier blocking a street in Shanghai on Tuesday after new cases of Covid-19 were found in the community.
Workers have installed beds at the stadium to turn it into a makeshift hospital after China saw a spike in Covid-19 cases, sending nearly 30 million people into lockdown again.
Shenzhen – the southern technology hub of 17.5 million – has been in lockdown for three days now, with many factories closed and supermarket shelves emptying, while China’s largest city, Shanghai, is under lockdown restrictions.
City officials said at a press conference on Tuesday that “there is no need to lock down Shanghai at this time,” opting for more “precise” measures instead.
Experts expect economic growth to slow down as the virus spreads, especially after Chinese authorities tightened virus controls at ports on Tuesday, raising the risk of trade disruptions.
“The resumption of restrictions, especially the lockdown in Shenzhen, will put pressure on consumption and cause supply disruptions in the near future,” Tommy Wu of Oxford Economics said in a briefing.
He added that it would be “difficult” for China to meet its official annual GDP growth target of around 5.5%.
Hong Kong stocks fell more than six percent on Tuesday, extending the previous day’s tech-driven slide.
Dozens of domestic flights in Beijing and Shanghai were canceled on Tuesday, and aviation authorities said more than 100 international flights bound for Shanghai would be diverted to other cities in China between next week and May 1.
Officials in hazmat suits patrol the streets of Shanghai after areas were put on lockdown due to an outbreak of Covid-19 cases.
State media reported that on Saturday, the mayor of Jilin City and the head of the Changchun Health Commission were fired from their posts in a political imperative placed on local governments to contain the spread of the virus (residents pictured lining up to be tested for Covid-19 during quarantine in Changchun on Saturday)
There is growing concern about the persistence of the country’s zero-tolerance policy in the face of this outbreak. 18 more provinces in northeastern cities struggle with clusters of Omicron and Delta variants (a volunteer disinfects an area during snowfall during the Covid lockdown in Changchun, Jilin province on Saturday)
The nearby city of Changchun, an industrial base of nine million people, was closed on Friday, while at least three other smaller cities have been closed since March 1. . on Sunday)