BEIJING, Jan 2 (Bloomberg): China’s ongoing outbreak driven by the delta strain in the western city of Xi’an showed little signs of easing despite a strict lockdown of 13 million people.
The city reported more than 170 cases on Saturday and over 120 on Sunday (Jan 2) with many of the new infections involving people who are not close contacts of previously infected people. That indicates spread in the community is still not yet fully accounted for.
Such hidden chains of transmission has led to the harshest restrictions since the lockdown of Wuhan in early 2020 and indicates the challenge authorities face in stamping out the outbreak, a goal China has arduously sought throughout under the so-called Covid Zero strategy.
Meanwhile, Reuters stated that China reported 191 confirmed coronavirus cases for Jan 1, down from 231 a day earlier, the country's health authority said on Sunday.
Of the new infections, 131 were locally transmitted, according to a statement by the National Health Commission, down from 175 a day earlier.
Most of the new local cases were in the northwestern province of Shaanxi, where the capital city Xian has been on lockdown to try to control the spread of the disease. Zhejiang and Henan provinces also reported new cases.
China reported 52 new asymptomatic cases, which it classifes separately from confirmed cases, compared with 38 a day earlier.
There were no new fatalities, leaving the death toll unchanged at 4,636. Mainland China had 102,505 confirmed cases as of the end of Jan 1.
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