China continues to fight its worst Covid-19 outbreak, sees highest daily count since start of pandemic

New Delhi: China on Tuesday (March 15, 2022) continued to fight its worst Covid-19 outbreak and witnessed its highest daily count since the start of the pandemic. China reported 5,280 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours with the worst-hit area being the Jilin province, which is scrambling to rein in the fast spread of the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant of Covid-19.

Over 30% of the 2022 cases have now been recorded in the northeastern province of Jilin. 

Jilin, which spans 1,87,400 sq km, has announced that all its 24.1 million residents were prohibited from travelling out of or into the province, or across different areas within the province.

The recent record surge has also forced the authorities to put at least 10 cities and counties under Covid-19 lockdown, including the tech hub of Shenzhen, which is home to over 17 million people.

The high-tech Shenzhen city has sealed all communities, villages and has suspended bus and metro services from Monday to Sunday due to the latest Covid-19 outbreak. 

China's Covid-19 curbs hit Toyota, Volkswagen and Apple supplier Foxconn

China's efforts to curb its largest Covid-19 outbreak in two years has also forced companies from Apple supplier Foxconn to automakers Toyota and Volkswagen to suspend some operations, raising concerns over supply chain disruptions.

Shenzhen, known as China's Silicon Valley, is carrying out mass testing after dozens of new local cases were recorded.

China on brink of biggest Covid-19 crisis since Wuhan

China has now reported more local symptomatic Covid-19 cases so far this year than it recorded in all of 2021. In the past week, new Covid-19 infections have been recorded in Beijing and the financial hub Shanghai - China`s most populous cities - as well as in the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang along the coast.

The situation is such that China is on the brink of its biggest Covid-19 crisis since Wuhan, a report has claimed. The coronavirus is said to have first broken out in Wuhan in December 2019 before it spread to almost all parts of the world.

In Shanghai, China's most populous city with 24 million people, schools have been shut as various provinces continue to fight the Omicron variant.

It is noteworthy that the Covid-19 infections in China are on the rise when most of the countries are opening up following a decline in cases. 

(With agency inputs)

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