China is seeing a major rise in new Covid cases even as the authorities are imposing strict measures to contain the spread of the virus. On Sunday, Mainland China reported 1,807 new local symptomatic Covid-19 cases, which is a two-year high. This is more than triple the caseload of the previous day.
The number of Covid-19 cases spiked from 476 the previous day, the data from the National Health Commission showed. The total cases also included 114 people who were initially classified as asymptomatic but later developed symptoms.
Though China's total Covid-19 cases are less than many other countries, including India, the rising Covid cases are against China's "dynamic-clearance" ambition.
China allows self-test rapid kits:
As Covid cases rise to new levels, the Chinese authorities have allowed people to buy rapid self-test kits for citizens. The measure has been taken for the first time to ramp up the testing and detection of coronavirus as officials warn it's hard to track nucleic acid tests with the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
Among the regions, the northeastern province Jilin reported a maximum of 1,412 new Covid cases, around 78 per cent of the nation's total tally.
The increase "showed that some local areas, facing a rapid rise of the epidemic, lacked the capacity to expand medical resources, resulting in limited admission of infections to centralised facilities within a short period of time," a Jilin provincial official told a news briefing to Reuters.
China locks down the city of 9 million people:
Amid a surge in Covid cases, neighbouring China has decided to impose a lockdown in the city of Changchun, which inhibits around 9 million residents as it faces a fresh spike in Covid-19 cases.
Under the lockdown norms, people have been advised to stay at home, and only one family member can go out to buy food and other necessary items every two days. To ensure everyone gets tested for Covid-related symptoms, the Chinese government has ordered the local residents to undergo three rounds of mass testing, news agency Associated Press reported.
With inputs from Reuters
