China Reports 24,473 New COVID Cases, Beijing Lockdown Continues

(CTN News) – As several cities fought outbreaks and restaurants and other businesses in Beijing closed after officials recommended people remain at home over the weekend, China reported a modest reduction in new COVID cases on Saturday.

Authorities have tried to lessen the effects of their strict zero-COVID policy, which is crippling the second-largest economy in the world and inciting resentment and fury as the number of cases has increased to its highest level since April.

The key diplomatic and economic hub of Beijing, Chaoyang, has seen several enterprises close or announce reduced hours of operation.

The authorities had instructed him and other businesses in the neighbourhood to shut for three days starting on Saturday, one restaurant owner in Sanlitun, the centre of the city’s nightlife, told Reuters.

A significant office building in the neighbouring Dongcheng neighbourhood said that Chaoyang residents shouldn’t report for work starting on Monday and that personnel levels would be 30% lower.

For those arriving from other provinces, the peripheral Beijing districts of Fangshan and Huairou have issued new testing requirements.

According to official statistics, Beijing recorded 79 symptomatic and 436 asymptomatic cases on Friday, down from 100 symptomatic and 366 asymptomatic instances the day before.

Beijing officials are on high alert to stop the multiple Omicron variant infections from moving to the capital.

At a press briefing, Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of Beijing’s municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that case counts in all city districts are still rising. On Saturday at 3 p.m. (0700 GMT), the city recorded 395 confirmed cases, 56 of which originated from individuals not under quarantine.

Authorities in the country recorded 24,263 daily domestically transmitted cases, down from 25,129 the day before, of which 2,055 were symptomatic, and 22,208 were asymptomatic.

COVID Woes Continue in China

That is getting close to the peak when the government closed down Shanghai, the financial centre and largest city in China, earlier this year.

However, this time, the instances are dispersed throughout several locations, where officials assess the advantages and disadvantages of relaxing regulations that have harmed firms.

Guangzhou, a southern metropolis of over 19 million people, recorded 269 new instances of domestically transmitted illness with symptoms and 8,444 cases without symptoms, up from 255 cases with symptoms and 8,989 cases without symptoms the day before, according to officials.

To accommodate the increasing number of patients, Guangzhou officials recently declared that they would construct facilities with more than 250,000 hospital beds. Residents protested this week in defiance of stringent lockdown regulations.

According to official statistics, the industrial centre of Zhengzhou recorded 182 new symptomatic locally transmitted COVID infections and 1,385 asymptomatic cases, up from 107 symptomatic and 1,556 asymptomatic cases the day before.

Some employees at a Foxconn-operated facility that makes Apple iPhones fled the city due to lockdowns. In response, authorities have offered low-level employees and locals cash incentives on top of their salaries if they continue working on the assembly lines.

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China’s COVID Woes Continue, Record daily Numbers in Beijing and Other Cities