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 A total of 3,507 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed
symptoms were reported on Monday across more than a dozen provinces
and municipalities, up from 1,337 a day earlier, the National Health
Commission said.
Most of the new cases were in the northeastern province of Jilin.
Though China's caseload is still tiny by global standards, health
experts said the increase in daily infections over the next few
weeks would be key to determine whether its "dynamic zero-COVID"
approach, of containing each outbreak quickly as it arises, remains
effective against the rapidly spreading Omicron variant.
Makers of everything from flash drives to glass for Apple's iPhone
screens are warning of shipment delays as they comply with China's
curbs against the disease, putting further strain on global supply
chains.
The steep increase has fuelled concern over China's growth
prospects, helping to dent market sentiment, with its stocks closing
at 21-month lows on Tuesday and oil prices sliding to a two-week
low.
A COVID-19 forecasting system run by Lanzhou University in China's
northwest predicted the current round of infections will eventually
be brought under control in early April after an accumulated total
of about 35,000 cases.
On Monday, the university said that while the latest outbreak was
the most serious on the mainland since the virus was detected in
Wuhan in 2020, China could bring it under control by sticking to
stringent curbs.
Not only is China's zero tolerance approach becoming more costly, it
yields diminishing returns against highly infectious Omicron, said
analyst Yanzhong Huang of U.S. thinktank the Council on Foreign
Relations.
"Now we have two of the wealthiest Chinese cities, Shanghai and
Shenzhen, both under lockdown: how is that going to affect the
Chinese economy?" he asked.
Shanghai is not under lockdown, and does not need one "at the
moment", as it strives to minimise disruption to daily life, the
city government said.
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The city will designate a few key areas where
control will be further strengthened, while
elsewhere people's movement is to be reduced
through measures such as staggered commuting or
remote work, it added in a statement.
The government of the southern city of Shenzhen
has designated the week of outbreak controls as
a period of "slow living", with buses and
subways, marriage and funeral services all
suspended, and daily tests ordered for some
residents.
TRAVEL BANS
China's aviation regulator said 106
international flights set to arrive in Shanghai
would be diverted to other domestic cities from
March 21 to May 1 because of COVID.
Nearly 90% of the mainland's new local
symptomatic cases on Monday were in Jilin, which
has restricted travel by its 24.1 million people
without notifying police.
Jilin officials should step up efforts to ensure
isolation of all infected cases and close
contacts, a local paper quoted the provincial
head of China's ruling Communist Party as
saying.
The northern city of Langfang ordered its 5.5
million inhabitants to stay indoors on Tuesday.
Monday's figure of new asymptomatic cases, which
China does not classify as confirmed cases, was
1,768, up from 906 a day earlier. With no new
deaths, the toll was unchanged at 4,636.
(Reporting by David Stanway, Roxanne Liu, Albee
Zhang, Ryan Woo; Editing by Stephen Coates and
Clarence Fernandez)
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