China records worst Coronavirus outbreak in two years; cases triple in 24 hours

Coronavirus is once again threatening China at levels that have prompted health authorities in the country to enforce lockdown at hotspots. As of March 12, 115,466 cases with confirmed symptoms have been reported in mainland China, including both local ones and those arriving from outside the mainland.

According to reports, the 'gravest' outbreak in two years has forced authorities in Shanghai to shut down schools, businesses, restaurants and malls and lock down cities in the northeast. Local media reports stated that long lines had been noticed outside hospitals in Shanghai as people rushed to get tested. 

Reports further noted that nearly 19 provinces are currently tacking Delta and Omicron variant clusters. In the last 24 hours, the number of symptomatic Covid cases has more than tripled. On Sunday, 1807 new symptomatic cases were detected in mainland China. This was three times higher than the tally of 476 reported on Saturday,

The northeastern province of Jilin alone accounts for 78 per cent of the new cases (1412 cases).

Briefing the media, the provincial official from Jilian said that the lack of the capacity to expand medical resources in some local areas had led to limited admission of infections to centralized facilities within a short period of time. Officials said that residents of Jilin have completed six rounds of mass testing.

Chinese health authorities have been conducting mass testing in Changchun, the industrial city with a population of nine million, which had gone under lockdown on Friday. 

In Shenzhen, all nine districts have stopped dining in restaurants, shut indoor entertainment venues, and asked companies -- barring those in essential sectors -- to enforce work from home till March 18. Six local government officials in the southern city of Dongguan were reportedly sacked from their posts for not being able to ensure Coronavirus prevention and control

In view of the rising cases, China's National Health Commission said they would introduce the use of rapid antigen tests, which will now be available online or at pharmacies for ordinary citizens to use for self-testing.

Image: A worker wearing personal protective equipment disinfects a bus at Jilin Agricultural Science and Technology University in Jilin Province of China. Photograph: VCG via Getty Images

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