Local Outbreaks Of COVID-19 Appear In Some Areas, China Again Implements Mass Testing And New Restrictions

JAKRTA - China is battling the nascent COVID-19 outbreak across the country with mass testing and new restrictions, including in Shanghai which was previously under a long lockdown, now there are new cases of buildings housing illegal karaoke facilities.

Pressure is mounting on officials to prevent a wider spread and disruption similar to the painful and costly isolation that Shanghai, China's most populous city, endured in April and May.

"Several areas of China are facing localized outbreaks and infections have emerged at the community level in Shanghai, which we must attach great importance to," city health official Zhao Dandan told reporters Wednesday.

"There should be no laziness," continued Zhao.

While the country's latest daily caseload of more than 300 infections is insignificant by global standards, those concerns could trigger another round of tight restrictions weighing on Chinese stock markets.

China is the only major economy that is pursuing a "zero-COVID" policy that aims to quickly eradicate all outbreaks, while the rest of the world tries to coexist with the virus.

However, his uncompromising approach has caused rare public outcry and weighed on the recovery of the world's second-largest economy.

For example Shanghai, which reported 24 new cases for Tuesday versus the previous eight days, is testing all residents in nine of its 16 districts from Tuesday to Thursday as well as in parts of the other three.

Until now, this commercial center with a population of about 25 million has required residents to be tested frequently to enter shopping centers or take public transportation.

City authorities have suspended karaoke room operations, but other recently reopened cultural venues such as libraries will remain open. Cinemas will reopen on Friday.

Meanwhile, Beijing, which reported six cases on Tuesday, urged transportation hubs and hotels to check visitors' body temperatures and evidence of negative COVID tests.

Separately, the caseload in eastern Anhui province, where more than 1 million people are in small towns under lockdown, declined slightly to 222 on Tuesday from 231 the day before. The province still accounts for most of China's new infections.

In the northwestern city of Xian in Shaanxi province, a seven-day closure of entertainment venues and a suspension of dining at restaurants took effect on Wednesday. The city of 13 million detected 11 new cases on Tuesday.

Xian, famous for its Terracota Army, was the first major city in China to declare war against the BA.5.2 subvariant of the infectious Omicron COVID variant, which is considered more infectious than the BA.2 subvariant found in previous outbreaks in China.

Shaanxi Governor Zhao Yide said cities in the province should enter a "wartime" state and step up screening of travelers.

In eastern Jiangsu province, 65 new cases were detected on Tuesday. The China Athletics Association has canceled the November 2022 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships that were scheduled to be held in the province, in Yangzhou.

President Xi Jinping repeated the country's "dynamic zero-COVID" policy on a visit last week to the city of Wuhan, where COVID was first reported.

President Xi said it was better to incur temporary economic costs than endanger people's lives and health, accepting COVID-19 as endemic would have unimaginable consequences in China.

Officials have pointed to millions of COVID-related deaths worldwide, compared to the 5,226 reported in China.

To note, China will soon set up a 500 billion yuan (US$74.69 billion) state infrastructure fund to revive the economy, Reuters exclusively reported on Tuesday.