China yesterday reported almost 700 new COVID-19 cases, with more infectious variants of SARS-CoV-2 continuing to test the nation’s hardline approach as outbreaks spread beyond major cities.
China reported 699 cases — the highest daily tally since May 22 — after recording more than 1,000 infections over the weekend.
Most of the cases are in the Guangxi region in the south, which recorded 243 cases — taking its total since the outbreak there flared six days ago to 829 — and remote Gansu Province, which reported 231 new infections, taking the number of cases there in the past week to 953.
Photo: Bloomberg
Most of Gansu’s capital, Lanzhou, has been locked down for almost a week and a lockdown was imposed in at least two districts of Beihai, a seaside city in Guangxi, trapping more than 2,000 tourists.
Many of them are stranded on the popular tourist island of Weizhou, after authorities on Sunday banned anyone from going to or leaving the island, Hongxing News reported.
A woman who was vacationing in Weizhou said she boarded a ferry on Sunday to leave the island, but it cruised at sea for two hours before turning back after authorities refused to allow tourists to land in Beihai.
She is back on Weizhou, but worries about getting food and other essential items because the island is locked down and most businesses are closed, Hongxing News reported yesterday.
While Shanghai’s situation is less dire, officials in the city, which endured a bruising two-month lockdown during April and May, are taking no chances and rolling out a testing blitz in 13 of the city’s 16 districts that are home to about 22 million people.
The financial hub reported 23 cases. Daily cases in the city have dropped from highs reached earlier this month, but they have held in double-digits for two weeks and high-risk areas continue to be locked down.
Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, shut entertainment venues for seven days to control an outbreak that has grown to 35 cases since Friday.
Residents endured rain and wind at neighborhood testing stations on Friday and posted videos about the experience on social media.
Meanwhile, authorities in Guangzhou have apologized for breaking into the homes of people who had been taken to a quarantine hotel in the latest example of heavy-handed disease prevention measures.
State media said that 84 homes in an apartment complex in Guangzhou’s Liwan District had been opened in an effort to find any “close contacts” hiding inside and to disinfect the premises.
The doors were later sealed and new locks installed, the Global Times reported.
The Liwan District Government on Monday apologized for such “oversimplified and violent” behavior, the paper said.
An investigation has been launched and “relevant people” would be severely punished, it said.
China’s adherence to a “zero COVID-19” strategy, which requires mass testing, snap lockdowns and travel restrictions, has exacted a heavy economic and social toll.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has made zero tolerance for COVID-19 a hallmark of his rule, saying the nation will not pursue “herd immunity” because it would exact too much of a toll, particularly on China’s elderly, who have lower vaccination rates.
Additional reporting by AP
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is to tighten rules for candidates running for public office, requiring them to declare that they do not hold a Chinese household registration or passport, and that they possess no other foreign citizenship. The requirement was set out in a draft amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法 ) released by the ministry on Thursday. Under the proposal, candidates would need to make the declaration when submitting their registration forms, which would be published in the official election bulletin. The move follows the removal of several elected officials who were
FOUR DESIGNATED AREAS: Notices were issued for live-fire exercises in waters south and northwest of Penghu, northeast of Keelung and west of Kaohsiung, they said The military is planning three major annual exercises across the army, navy and air force this month, with the navy’s “Hai Chiang” (海強, “Sea Strong”) drills running from today through Friday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Hai Chiang exercise, which is to take place in waters surrounding Taiwan, would feature P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and S-70C anti-submarine helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the drills aim to bolster the nation’s offshore defensive capabilities. China has intensified military and psychological pressure against Taiwan, repeatedly sending warplanes and vessels into areas near the nation’s air defense identification zone and across
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
RSS