China went back to lockdowns amid the worst COVID-19 outbreak in two years. On March 14, China’s Jilin Province witnessed 5,280 fresh locally transmitted cases. This is the highest number to be registered since 2020.
About 17 million people are placed under lockdown in the city of Shenzhen to combat the new outbreak. The city is now struggling to eradicate the COVID-19 flare-up, along with the neighbouring city of Hong Kong. Hong Kong has reported more than 700,000 fresh infections and 4,000 deaths overall.
According to reports from Reuters, most of which took place in the last three weeks. Hong Kong’s 7.4 million residents are now subjected to compulsory mass testing. The latest surge is driven by the omicron variant of COVID-19, with very few places reporting the delta variant.
Yanji, which shares a border with North Korea, is also witnessing an outbreak. China, where the virus was first detected in late 2019, has maintained a strict “zero-COVID-19” policy. The lockdown and a suspension of public transport will last until March 20, a city government notice said.