BEIJING: Chinese megacity Guangzhou on Thursday canceled hundreds of flights and began testing 5.6 million people on a suspected covid The case is part of a growing fight across the country to quell the virus.
China is facing its worst outbreak since the peak of the first wave in early 2020, with dozens of daily deaths reported in eastern Shanghai and the capital. Beijing The entire locality has been sealed where few cases have been detected.
Under its zero-Covid policy, China has used lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions to stamp out infections.
The strategy is under stress with the highly permeable Omicron variant punching through health controls.
Rolling virus restrictions – including a week-long lockdown of nearly all of Shanghai’s 25 million residents – have battered the economy, leading to a backlog at the world’s busiest container port, a key node in the global supply chain.
On Thursday, Guangzhou, a major trade and manufacturing hub in southern China, announced mass testing for nearly a third of its 19 million residents after “abnormal” test results were detected at its airport, where most flights have been cancelled.
Meanwhile, late Wednesday the tech hub of Hangzhou near Shanghai ordered 9.4 million downtown residents out of its 12.2 million population to be tested every 48 hours if they wanted to use public spaces and transportation.
The aim is that there is “nowhere for the virus to hide or settle”, the city government said in a statement, raising fears of further restrictions in a city home to some of China’s biggest companies.
China reported 11,367 new infections on Thursday, a smaller daily tally than most major global economies, but enough to rattle officials in the country where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019, but This was relatively unheard of by the recent pandemic.
The outbreak is expected to hit tourism next week during the May national holiday, one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
The transport official said that Chinese travelers have estimated 100 million domestic trips during the five-day holiday, which is 62 percent less than 2021. zhou min told reporters.
Wang Yang, 34, a resident of Beijing, told AFP he had canceled his vacation plans because of the Omicron surge.
“We should avoid going out and stay at home,” he told AFP. “It’s something that affects the whole country, not just you.”
China’s more than 10,000 cases were detected on Thursday in Shanghai, where cases are on a downward spiral after a week-long lockdown that has angered residents and prompted a backlash against the government for messing up and confining people at home. Have seen rare protests against failing to feed.
In recent days, more housing compounds have lifted movement restrictions and officials said Thursday that 90 percent of new infections were found in quarantine areas.
National Health Commission Officials wu liangyu warned Thursday that “it is difficult to prevent a rebound or spillover.”
Nearly 50 new cases found in Beijing, the seat of government for the president Xi JinpingWho has lauded China’s virus response as an example of the superiority of the country’s communist leadership so far.
The capital this week began mass testing of almost all of its 21 million residents and on Thursday closed more housing compounds in its populous Chaoyang district.
Residents are on high alert of a potentially widespread lockdown and are stunned by scenes of chaos in Shanghai that have pinged social media before being erased by censors.
“I can see that some people are hesitant about COVID policies,” Jiang, a 21-year-old student in Beijing who declined to give his full name, told AFP.
China is facing its worst outbreak since the peak of the first wave in early 2020, with dozens of daily deaths reported in eastern Shanghai and the capital. Beijing The entire locality has been sealed where few cases have been detected.
Under its zero-Covid policy, China has used lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions to stamp out infections.
The strategy is under stress with the highly permeable Omicron variant punching through health controls.
Rolling virus restrictions – including a week-long lockdown of nearly all of Shanghai’s 25 million residents – have battered the economy, leading to a backlog at the world’s busiest container port, a key node in the global supply chain.
On Thursday, Guangzhou, a major trade and manufacturing hub in southern China, announced mass testing for nearly a third of its 19 million residents after “abnormal” test results were detected at its airport, where most flights have been cancelled.
Meanwhile, late Wednesday the tech hub of Hangzhou near Shanghai ordered 9.4 million downtown residents out of its 12.2 million population to be tested every 48 hours if they wanted to use public spaces and transportation.
The aim is that there is “nowhere for the virus to hide or settle”, the city government said in a statement, raising fears of further restrictions in a city home to some of China’s biggest companies.
China reported 11,367 new infections on Thursday, a smaller daily tally than most major global economies, but enough to rattle officials in the country where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019, but This was relatively unheard of by the recent pandemic.
The outbreak is expected to hit tourism next week during the May national holiday, one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
The transport official said that Chinese travelers have estimated 100 million domestic trips during the five-day holiday, which is 62 percent less than 2021. zhou min told reporters.
Wang Yang, 34, a resident of Beijing, told AFP he had canceled his vacation plans because of the Omicron surge.
“We should avoid going out and stay at home,” he told AFP. “It’s something that affects the whole country, not just you.”
China’s more than 10,000 cases were detected on Thursday in Shanghai, where cases are on a downward spiral after a week-long lockdown that has angered residents and prompted a backlash against the government for messing up and confining people at home. Have seen rare protests against failing to feed.
In recent days, more housing compounds have lifted movement restrictions and officials said Thursday that 90 percent of new infections were found in quarantine areas.
National Health Commission Officials wu liangyu warned Thursday that “it is difficult to prevent a rebound or spillover.”
Nearly 50 new cases found in Beijing, the seat of government for the president Xi JinpingWho has lauded China’s virus response as an example of the superiority of the country’s communist leadership so far.
The capital this week began mass testing of almost all of its 21 million residents and on Thursday closed more housing compounds in its populous Chaoyang district.
Residents are on high alert of a potentially widespread lockdown and are stunned by scenes of chaos in Shanghai that have pinged social media before being erased by censors.
“I can see that some people are hesitant about COVID policies,” Jiang, a 21-year-old student in Beijing who declined to give his full name, told AFP.