China finds new Covid-19 subtype as daily cases exceed 13,000. Read here
- The new iteration of the virus, isolated from a mild Covid-19 patient in a city less than 70 kilometres (43 miles) from Shanghai, evolves from the BA.1.1 branch of the omicron variant
China detected 13,000 Covid-19 cases on Sunday, the most since the peak of the first pandemic wave over two years ago, as health officials said they have found a new subtype of the omicron variant.
The new iteration of the virus, isolated from a mild Covid-19 patient in a city less than 70 kilometres (43 miles) from Shanghai, evolves from the BA.1.1 branch of the omicron variant, Global Times reported, citing sequencing data from local health authorities.
The report said the subtype doesn’t match other coronavirus that’s causing Covid in China nor those submitted to GISAID, where scientists around the world share the coronavirus they sequenced as a way to monitor mutations.
A case in Dalian city in northern China reported on Friday also didn’t match any coronavirus found domestically, the municipal government said on its WeChat account.
On the current Covid outbreak
The current outbreak is also testing the patience of the Chinese towards tough restrictions, at a time when much of the world has re-opened.
Almost 12,000 of the cases reported nationwide on Saturday were labelled asymptomatic.
On Sunday, the 1.5 million residents of Baicheng in northeast China joined the ranks of tens of millions of other Chinese who have endured some form of lockdown over the last month, disrupting work and damaging the economy.
China registered 13,146 Covid-19 cases on Sunday, the National Health Commission said in a statement, with "no new deaths" reported.
It is the country's highest daily infection tally since mid-February 2020.
Around 70 percent of the national caseload was found in Shanghai, the commission said, after mass testing the metropolis' 25 million residents.
Vice Premier Sun Chunlan arrived in the country’s virus hotspot of Shanghai to oversee prevention efforts, as she ordered officials to curtail the outbreak “as soon as possible,” according to Xinhua.
Covid-19 cases in the financial hub exceeded 8,000 on Saturday including 7,788 asymptomatic infections. Shanghai will start a new round of mass testing on Monday, authorities said.
Sun, who previously went to Jilin to oversee lockdown measures in the northeast province, ordered Shanghai officials to “resolutely” conduct measures to stop the outbreak. All of the metropolis’ 25 million residents are currently under some form of quarantine.
In the city of Sanya in Hainan province, authorities suspended all transportation to stymie the spread of Covid, according to a post on an official WeChat account.
Anger rising among Chinese residents over lockdowns
Anger is rising among residents over lockdowns that were initially planned to last just for four days, but now appear likely to drag on for several more as fresh rounds of mass testing are carried out.
Parents have expressed fears of separation from their children in the event of a positive test, while residents have griped about a lack of fresh food and the ability to walk dogs outside.
China, the country where the coronavirus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, is among the last remaining places following a zero-Covid approach to the pandemic.
China's "zero-Covid" strategy is under extreme pressure as the virus whips across the country.
Until March, China had successfully kept the daily caseload down to double or triple digits, with hard, localised lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions.
But cases have surged over recent weeks to thousands each day, especially in the outbreak epicentre of Shanghai, where streets were eerily empty on Sunday as 25 million people stayed in under lockdown orders.
The World Health Organization's emergencies director Michael Ryan last week said it was important for all countries, including China, to have a plan to wind down pandemic restrictions.
But he said China's vast population provides a unique challenge to its health system and authorities will have to "define a strategy that allows them to exit (the pandemic) safely".
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First Published:3 Apr 2022, 04:33 PM IST
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