news covid.

 

Corona has frightened China once more. Isolation of a 9-million-person city

Last week, President Xi Jinping stressed the need to "minimize the impact" of the epidemic on China's

 economy, but urged officials to "adhere" to the current "zero Covid" strategy.

However, the omicron mutant is highly contagious, posing a challenge to the efficacy and sustainability of the strategy.

Some cities, such as Shanghai, have avoided imposing a complete stone and, in turn, have isolated certain buildings, even as new daily infections that do not show symptoms have risen to hundreds.

Jilin Provincial officials announced the arrival of the first 10,000 doses of Pfizer to treat Covid, the first time that Paxilvid was used in China.

Last week, Jilin imposed strict measures on movement and prevented people from leaving their cities and regions, while many cities quarantined their residents.

The city of Shenzhen, which is a technology center in southern China, announced the abolition of closure measures that lasted for a week in an "orderly manner", after the gradual easing of measures Friday to reduce the repercussions of the closure on factories and ports.

Coronavirus: is the end near

And health officials revealed last week that only about half of the Chinese over 80 years old received the two doses of the vaccine, at a time when the death rate in Hong Kong, especially among the elderly who were not vaccinated, had a shadow over the decision-making process in Beijing.

Shenzhen, a technology hub in southern China, declared the "orderly" elimination of closure measures that had been in place for a week, following the gradual relaxing of measures on Friday to lessen the impact of the shutdown on companies and ports.

At a time when the "zero Covid" policy was facing a surge of infections with the mutant Omicron, China placed a stone at night on an industrial city of 9 million people and announced more than 4,000 instances of the virus on Tuesday.

Health officials also reported 4,770 new cases across the country, the most of which were in Jilin Province (northeast), while the city of Shenyang in nearby Liaoning Province was closed late Monday.

The Chinese government has been attempting to eradicate virus hotspots for the previous two weeks, including imposing quarantine, conducting infection tests, and closing cities.

For the first time in more than a year, it recorded two Covid deaths on Saturday.

Authorities have issued a warning.