Covid-19 cases surge in Beijing, Shanghai deaths triple

China’s capital ramps up testing to halt outbreak; Hangzhou restricts movements in some parts of tech hub.

Mass testing for Covid-19 in Beijing on Monday. Picture: AFP

Beijing says it is at a critical point in its efforts to halt a Covid-19 outbreak in the city, as new cases spread from school students and a tour group, while deaths in Shanghai have more than tripled from a day earlier.

The Chinese capital recorded 22 new cases on Sunday, its highest daily tally this year. Shanghai, which a week ago had recorded no new deaths in the latest wave of infections, said 39 Covid patents died on Saturday – more than three times Friday’s toll.

While still low by global standards, the latest numbers are a challenge to the ability of China’s leaders to wipe out outbreaks with their zero-Covid policy. As pockets of infections flare up in the country’s most important cities, local officials are desperate to avoid a repeat of the economic disruption and public discontent seen in Shanghai, large parts of which have been locked down for weeks.

But the Chinese leadership has vowed to stick to their zero-Covid strategy, which has helped regions such as Jilin province successfully contain the virus after six weeks of lockdowns. The northeastern province is the hardest-hit region after Shanghai. Cases also have been rising the past week in Jiangsu and Hebei, the provinces surrounding Shanghai and Beijing. In the capital the virus had been spreading undetected for a week and more cases would be found as the city steps up its screening efforts, officials said. “This wave is menacing and stealthy, and its origin unclear – and transmission fast,” said Beijing’s Communist Party boss Cai Qi.

The new fatalities brought the death toll in China’s current outbreak to 89, all but two of them in Shanghai. Existing ailments such as late-stage cancer or diabetes were the direct cause in all of Shanghai’s cases, in which the average age of victims was 81.

Shanghai added 21,058 new cases on Saturday, bringing total infections in the city of 25 million to 490,000 since a wave of the highly contagious Omicron variant hit the financial capital on March 1. Of those who died, only five were vaccinated. Only 62 per cent of Shanghai residents aged 60 and older are vaccinated. The rate drops to 15 per cent for the 800,000 residents over 80.

Many residents who have been quarantined at home for weeks saw metal fences being erected around their buildings as the authorities ordered another round of restrictions to wipe out the remaining infections

In Hangzhou, a technology hub home to Alibaba, more than 100 new cases have been detected since Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal