Chinese health authorities have reported 5,463 new coronavirus infections, the worst daily data in more than six months in a country that continues to apply with an iron fist all kinds of restrictions to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, including widespread confinements of the population.
On Sunday, the Asian giant added an additional 5,436 cases, 27 percent more than the previous day and the highest figure since May 2, when the megacity of Shanghai was in a lengthy lockdown, according to the Blooomberg news agency.
The current outbreaks are spread across different areas and in the capital Beijing, with 55 cases on Sunday alone, students in the most populous district have switched to telemedicine classes. Schools have been closed in the Chaoyang district, although there is no official statement but ‘de facto’ confirmations on social networks.
The recent congress of the Chinese Communist Party served the regime to emphasize that it has no intention of repealing its ‘zero cases’ policy, an anomaly in a world that for months now has been trying to coexist to a greater or lesser extent with the virus. The Ministry of Health insisted on Saturday that the position remains «firm» in this regard.
«Past practices have shown that our prevention and control plans and strategic measures are completely correct,» defended a spokesman, Hu Xiang, who even argued that these are the «most economical and effective» decisions.
In Canton, a key industrial center, 1,953 more positives have been reported and the district of Haizhu, epicenter of the outbreak, is immersed in a lockdown which, in principle, has been decreed for three days.
Another hotspot is Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province and home to the world’s largest iPhone factory. This area, where strict isolation measures have been in place since last week, has 297 additional cases.
