China’s Covid cases at peak since late April; Latest updates

TNI Bureau: China recorded its largest number of fresh Covid infections since late April, just one day after Beijing introduced a slew of new measures, including shorter quarantines, to mitigate the impact of its rigorous zero-Covid policy. The quarantine period for visitors arriving in China has been reduced from seven to five days as part of anti-virus regulations announced on Friday.

There were 1,504 symptomatic and 10,446 asymptomatic infections among the 11,950 fresh Covid infections, compared to 10,729 symptomatic and 9,520 asymptomatic infections the day before. Guangzhou, a southern city of over 19 million people, declared a few districts closed after reporting 3,180 locally transmitted diseases, up from 2,583 the day before.

According to data, Beijing recorded 68 symptomatic and 48 asymptomatic instances, compared to 64 symptomatic and 54 asymptomatic cases the day before.

The quarantine period for visitors arriving in China has been reduced from seven to five days as part of anti-virus controls announced on Friday, as Beijing maintains its zero-Covid policy.  The same resulted in cancellation of several flights bound to Guangzhou and Beijing.

People who want to access supermarkets, office buildings, and other public places must produce negative results of a virus test done as frequently as once a day. Chongqing closed schools in its 840,000-person Beibei district after residents were barred from leaving a series of apartment compounds in its Yubei district.

In the central city of Zhengzhou, mass testing was also taking place in eight districts with a total population of 6.6 million people.