Posted on 03/13/22
| News Source: i24
Highly contagious omicron variant challenges Beijing's 'zero-Covid' approach to pandemic
Millions of people across China endured lockdowns on Sunday as virus cases doubled to nearly 3,400 and anxiety mounted over the resilience of the country's 'zero-Covid' approach in the face of the worst outbreak in two years.
A nationwide surge in cases has seen authorities close schools in Shanghai, lock down central neighborhoods in the southern tech powerhouse of Shenzhen as well as whole northeastern cities, as almost 18 provinces battle clusters of the omicron and delta variants.
The city of Jilin — center of the outbreak in the northeast — was partially locked down Saturday, while residents of Yanji, an urban area of nearly 700,000 bordering North Korea, were confined to their homes Sunday.
China, where the virus was first detected in late 2019, has maintained a strict 'zero-Covid' policy enforced by swift lockdowns, travel restrictions and mass testing when clusters have emerged.
But the latest flare-up, driven by the highly transmissible omicron variant and a spike in asymptomatic cases, is testing the efficacy of that approach.
Zhang Yan, an official with the Jilin provincial health commission, conceded that local authorities' virus response so far had been lacking.
"The emergency response mechanism in some areas is not robust enough," he said at a press briefing on Sunday.
"There is insufficient understanding of the characteristics of the omicron variant... and judgment has been inaccurate."