AMN/ WEB DESK
China has locked down Shenyang, an industrial city of 9 million people in northeastern Liaoning province from Monday night amid dwindling patience reported on Chinese social media in various Chinese cities due to repeated lockdowns and tests and ensuing uncertainty and inconvenience. The Chinese mainland reported more than 5100 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, according to data from the National Health Commission daily presser. Out of these, 2,469 cases were asymptomatic.
According to officials, some 22,000 asymptomatic patients remain under medical observation. China has reported nearly 40000 new cases this month recording a large number of asymptomatic or silent cases as the nation’s “zero-Covid” strategy is confronted by an Omicron wave spread across 28 provinces and regions. Some 25,000 new cases have been reported in this week alone, according to health officials, who have warned the country’s defenses are facing the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant BA.2 for the first time. Confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland now total 137,231, with the death toll remaining at 4,638.
Chinese health experts said the detection of a large number of silent carriers caused by the stealth Omicron variant has increased the difficulty in sticking to the dynamic zero-COVID policy, so China needs to adjust its prevention measures to be more targeted and scientific.
State media reported, China on Tuesday revised its guideline on nucleic acid testing, which no longer requires mandatory citywide testing each time, but authorities can narrow the region/locality for testing based on sources of infections. The new guideline also sets a strict time limit for the designated area of a city to complete testing, which is to be finished within 24 hours which earlier was 3 days. Officials said the adjustment was a response to the stealth Omicron variant, which can spread rapidly. Authorities have already revised their rule for hospitalization which is needed now only for symptomatic patients.
This zero-tolerance stance has spurred some local officials to adopt drastic actions as they feared disciplinary punishment once cases began to increase. Local media reported that more than 70 Chinese officials have been sacked or disciplined over the past month as Covid-19 spreads across the country which forced them to enforce even stricter Zero covid policy putting enormous pressure on resources and economy. Experts say authorities are finding it hard to adopt more pragmatic ways rather than overkill approaches as they are neither practiced nor they have sufficient resources. Meanwhile, Officials in China are urging elderly citizens to come forward for a COVID-19 jab pointing to Hong Kong – which saw a large number of unvaccinated older people die. Hong Kong is slowly beginning to welcome back international visitors after leader Carrie Lam announced the travel ban from nine countries would be lifted next month.