China on Sunday recorded 1,807 new Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day count since the beginning of the pandemic in 2019, Reuters reported.
Of the new local infections, 1,412 were recorded in Jilin province alone. On Friday, China had imposed a lockdown in Jilin’s capital of Changchun amid a spike in Covid-19 cases. The region known for its industrial base is said to be worst affected by the Omicron variant.
Zhang Yan, an official attached to the Jilin health commission, said on Sunday that the authorities’ response to the virus was not upto the mark, Agence France-Presse reported.
“The emergency response mechanism in some areas is not robust enough, there is insufficient understanding of the characteristics of the Omicron variant… and judgment has been inaccurate,” he said.
Lockdowns on Sunday were also ordered in Yucheng, a city located in the northwest of Shandong province.
The condition seems to be deteriorating in Hong Kong, where health officials on Sunday confirmed 32,430 Covid-19 cases and 264 deaths, the South China Morning Post reported. Approximately three lakh Covid-19 patients and their close contacts were under home quarantine.
Authorities have also shut schools in Shanghai to prevent the spread of the virus among children, Agence France-Presse reported.
China has maintained a “zero-Covid policy” since the first outbreak, with harsh restrictions and rigorous testing. Their policy is also adopted to varying extent by Australia, Canada, Macau, New Zealand, Singapore, Scotland and South Korea.
Globally, 45.68 crore people have been infected with the virus, of which 60,41,028 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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