China on brink of biggest COVID-19 crisis since Wuhan as cases surge

Residents line up for COVID-19 screening during a lockdown in Changchun in northeastern China's Jilin Province, March 12. AP-Yonhap

China is scrambling to address its most severe Covid-19 outbreak in two years, reporting soaring cases in a fresh wave that has seen the country tweak its zero-COVID policy by allowing rapid antigen tests (RATs) for public use.

After topping 1,000 for two days in a row, new locally transmitted cases surged to more than 3,100, this time driven by a spike in symptomatic infections, the National Health Commission reported Sunday.

It came as 16 provinces reported new coronavirus infections, as did the four megacities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing.

Local symptomatic cases more than tripled to 1,807, from 476 a day earlier, the NHC said. Asymptomatic infections edged up to 1,315, from 1,048 the previous day, after dominating the national caseload for the past few days.

China does not classify asymptomatic infections as confirmed cases.

Some local health authorities have attributed the surge to the Omicron variant, which is more transmissible but causes less severe symptoms than the original COVID-19 virus.

The southern tech hub of Shenzhen, which has been battling an Omicron surge since late February, will carry out three rounds of citywide COVID-19 tests next week.

In a statement Sunday, the city authorities said bus and subway services would be suspended from Monday. Residents were urged to work from home and to go out only to buy daily necessities. And all outbound travelers must submit negative nucleic acid test results taken within the previous 24 hours. Essential services and supplies to neighboring Hong Kong remain unaffected.

Most of the new local cases nationwide came from the northeastern province of Jilin, which logged 2,156 infections, of which 1,412 were symptomatic.

Zhang Yan, a public health official in charge of provincial pandemic control, said the cities of Jilin and Changchun at the center of the outbreak had launched their latest round of mass testing to screen transmission clusters.

Total cases in Jilin Province have climbed to more than 3,500 since the start of the month.

Jing Junhai, the provincial Communist Party head, has urged all-out efforts to reduce transmissions and ensure market supply of daily necessities, while vowing to crack down on any cover-up of the pandemic.

The NHC approved Covid-19 rapid antigen tests for public use Friday, after Premier Li Keqiang said the country's zero-COVID responses would be fine-tuned to avoid disruptions to the economy.

Zhang said Jilin Province would promote RATs and raise the capacity for nucleic acid testing in efforts to cut transmission chains.

A makeshift 1,500-bed hospital is also expected to be put into operation in the provincial capital of Changchun, where a citywide lockdown took effect Saturday.

More than 5,000 additional beds would become available in the coming days, local authorities said. The city of 9 million reported 873 new coronavirus infections, more than five times the 160 logged a day earlier.

Residents line up along a street in front of a noodle shop for a COVID-19 test at a hospital in Shanghai, March 11. AP-Yonhap

On the east coast, the financial hub of Shanghai and port city of Qingdao in Shandong Province are also battling serious outbreaks.

Residents in both cities have been urged to cancel all unnecessary travel, and all inbound and outbound travelers are required to present negative nucleic acid test results taken within the previous 48 hours.

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Shanghai has shut down 157 parks, with another 45 likely to be closed as well. Inter-city bus transport has been suspended, and university campus activities restricted in an effort to curb infections, with disinfection of inbound parcels to be stepped up.

Earlier this month, national postal authorities said all overseas mail would be tested for Covid-19 to block transmissions through surface contamination.

In the capital Beijing, incoming travelers must not take part in group meals or other gatherings for the first seven days after entering the city.

Volunteers wearing face masks to help protect them from COVID-19 tidy hand sanitizer dispensers at a quiet Main Media Center during the closing ceremony for the 2022 Winter Paralympics, March 13, in Beijing. AP-Yonhap

Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan, who is leading the nation's anti-pandemic work, called outbreaks "complicated and severe," as she urged health authorities to control cluster transmissions.

"In order to address the Omicron spread, we should promote a model of antigen screening and nucleic acid tests, allow the public to buy tests themselves, which is conducive to early detection," Sun told a televised pandemic control meeting Saturday.

Huang Shouying, deputy head of public security in the southern province of Guangdong, was dismissed along with five officials in Dongguan for the mishandling of an outbreak in the industrial city that began March 1, according to the Nanfang Daily, a newspaper backed by the provincial government.

This came as Guangdong logged a total of 256 new cases, 62 of which were symptomatic and nearly all found in Shenzhen, its commercial and technological hub. Asymptomatic local cases dominated in the industrial city of Dongguan, which reported 188 such infections.

Emily Wen, an executive with a financial institution in Shenzhen, said the outbreak had raised staffing problems at her workplace.

"I have been struggling with personnel arrangements for the coming weeks. Some of the work has to be done in office, so we have to get prepared for the situation if the office building is put under lockdown," Wen said.

"Food and sleep issues can be handled easily, but the lack of shower facilities would prove to be a headache."

Shenzhen has tightened pandemic controls in recent weeks to stop the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant, which has sent cases spiraling and sparked a health care crisis in neighboring Hong Kong.

Earlier this month, it locked down border areas near Hong Kong and launched blanket screening.

All dine-in services have been suspended as of Saturday, with "non-essential venues" including cinemas and libraries ordered to close.

"We don't know yet when we can reopen," said an employee of a cinema in Longhua District, a commercial area in northern Shenzhen.

Meanwhile, although RAT kits have been approved for the general public, they have yet to become widely available. A sales assistant at a pharmacy chain said the company had not notified them when the test kits might be ready for sale.

"We only know that those kits are coming to the market, but I'm not sure if they are already accessible in Shenzhen's pharmacies," he said.

Tina Su, a working mother of two living in Nanshan district, said the situation in Shenzhen seemed more worrisome than two years ago.

"We have been advised to remain in our homes for all of next week as well. I have done nucleic acid tests downstairs almost every day over the past 25 days, and nearly got calluses in my throat," she said.

"It's very stressful for medical workers, and it brings huge costs for the authorities with the zero-COVID policy. They are still sticking to zero tolerance, but I don't think it can last forever."