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 Shanghai reported 62 domestically transmitted asymptomatic
infections for Tuesday, the seventh consecutive day of increases in
such cases, official data showed on Wednesday. That was the highest
daily count for the city since China started in late March 2020 to
classify symptomless infections separately from confirmed cases.
The mega-city of 24.9 million also reported for Tuesday three local
cases with confirmed symptoms.
Of the 65 cases, all but one were detected among people already
under quarantine as they were close contacts of infected people
reported earlier.
Shanghai's latest outbreak is small compared with those in many big
cities overseas, and it has yet to impose a blanket travel curb or
lockdowns.
Many Chinese cities including Shanghai have detected Omicron
variants among local infections, but the total number nationwide
remains unclear.
While China has shown no sign of ditching its "zero-clearance"
policy aimed at containing outbreaks as quickly as possible, it has
told local governments across the country to minimise the impact of
counter-COVID measures on people's daily lives.
But some degree of inconvenience has been felt in Shanghai since the
latest wave of infections emerged earlier this month.
Dozens of housing and office compounds in the city where confirmed
cases and their close contacts had visited have been cordoned off
and their occupants told to undergo up to 14-day quarantines.
Many leisure events, such as concerts, exhibitions and tutoring
sessions have been delayed or cancelled. Even some retiree dance
groups, which are a familiar sight in the city's parks, have been
told to stop gathering.
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 "My happy Friday is gone," one user on
Twitter-like platform Weibo wrote, after several
performances at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts
Centre were cancelled.
Including infections in Shanghai, mainland China
reported 233 local cases with confirmed symptoms
and 322 without symptoms for March 8.
Those domestically transmitted cases were found
across over 40 cities, a spread which does not bode well for a
hoped-for recovery in retail, aviation and tourism, analysts said.
"As the virus has spread to around 20 provinces in China and with a
tendency of spreading more widely, the hit on consumption would last
for a while, unlike our previous forecasts with a gradually warming
consumption recovery," said Tang Jianwei, chief researcher at the
Financial Research Center of Bank of Communications.
China also reported 104 symptomatic infections and 77 asymptomatic
among travellers arriving from outside mainland for March 8.
There were no new deaths, leaving the death toll unchanged at 4,636.
As of March 8, mainland China had reported 111,857 cases with
confirmed symptoms since the pandemic began, including both local
and imported ones.
(Reporting by Ryan Woo, Roxanne Liu, Albee Zhang and Beijing
Newsroom in Beijing, Engen Tham and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing
by Shri Navaratnam, Kim Coghill and Lincoln Feast.)
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