Growing number of cases could complicate Beijing’s ‘dynamic-clearance’ ambition to suppress contagion as quickly as possible
Mainland China reported 1,807 new local symptomatic COVID-19 cases on Sunday, more than triple the caseload of the previous day, and the highest in about two years, as surging infections in a northeastern province squeeze health resources.
Omicron has prompted health authorities to allow the general public to buy rapid self-test kits for the first time to help detect infections quickly, as some experts said China’s earlier testing strategy based on nucleic acid test that requires medical workers to take samples has become harder with the fast-spreading variant.
Authorities in Changchun, the provincial capital already under lockdown, have been conducting mass testing and working on turning an exhibition centre into a temporary hospital with 1,500 beds, according to the local official and state media reports.