BEIJING: COVID cases in China on Saturday touched record high for the third consecutive day. Around 35,000 new COVID-19 infections were reported by the National Health Commission.
Supermarkets across Beijing received an overwhelming response, shelves emptied as the city government ordered faster construction of COVID-19 quarantine centres and field hospitals. Advisory’ has been issued instructing residents not to leave their compounds. Universities have called off classes and shut down campuses. Lower grades students have been shifted to online classes.
Authorities have reinstated “zero-Covid” policy that mandates lockdowns, mass testing and quarantines for anyone suspected of having come into contact with the virus.
Meanwhile, authorities have stated to lift a months-long Covid lockdown in the country’s far western region of Xinjiang “in stages”, following protests over a deadly fire at an apartment building in the regional capital of Urumqi.
One video that was widely circulating on Chinese social media on Friday evening shows a large group of people marching to a government building in Urumqi and chanting “end lockdowns,” while another shows some residents breaking through lockdown barriers and quarreling with officials.
China recorded 32,695 new local cases on Thursday, which included 3,041 symptomatic cases and 29,654 asymptomatic cases. According to the media reports, Thursday’s new local COVID-19 infections set a daily record, beating a figure set in mid-April.