China Reports 88 New Omicron Cases In Middle Schools

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JAKARTA - The port city in China, Qingdao, reported 88 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, all of which are Omicron variants as well as the highest local daily cases in China so far this year.

China recorded 329 new confirmed cases of COVID on the mainland on Saturday, of which 175 were local cases, the China Health Commission (NHC) said on Sunday. The day before, 102 local cases of COVID were recorded.

The Qingdao outbreak was reported to be mainly among high school students in the Laixi area, the Qingdao Regional Health Commission said.

The Laixi county will hold a phase II mass COVID test on March 7, local officials said during a press conference Sunday. He added that there was no major risk for a further outbreak.

China's "dynamic zero-COVID" approach aims to break transmission routes as quickly as possible once new cases are detected.

The Qingdao outbreak brought China's total of locally confirmed cases to its highest level since Dec. 31, with other cases mainly reported in Jilin, Guangdong and Hebei provinces, according to the NHC.

The number of new cases of Asymptomatic People (OTG), which are not considered confirmed cases by Chinese authorities, was recorded at 209 people while the day before was 166 people.

As of March 5, mainland China had confirmed 110,868 cases and 4,636 deaths of COVID-19.