Parks, shopping malls, and museums remain shut in Beijing as the country witnessed a surge in Covid-19 cases while many cities focused on mass testing for the virus. The fresh spike in coronavirus cases has raised concerns about the Chinese economy.
Around 28,127 new local cases were reported across the country on Monday, which is closer to its daily infection peak in April, reported news agency Reuters. Covid cases in the southern city of Guangzhou and the southwestern municipality of Chongqing account for about half of the total, the report added.
The capital city of Beijing has witnessed a fresh record forcing residents to stay put. The latest surge comes amid recent changes to China’s zero-Covid policy and asked authorities to focus on a targeted approach in their clampdown measures instead of widespread lockdowns and testing that have strangled the economy and frustrated residents.
China reported two new deaths of elderly from Covid-19 on Monday as several major cities followed strict restrictions. On Monday, a 91-year-old woman with a history of stroke and Alzheimer’s disease, and an 88-year-old man with a history of cancer, bronchitis and stroke died, reported news agency AFP.
New cases in the capital touched 962 on Monday from 621 the day before, as authorities continued with restrictions in an effort to contain the flare-ups, reported AFP. Almost 600 areas of the city are marked “high-risk”, a designation that typically mandates residents to isolate for several days in their housing units or move to state quarantine facilities.
China announced its first new death from Covid-19 on Sunday in a span of half a year amid strict new measures in Beijing and across the country. The National Health Commission reported the death of an 87-year-old Beijing man due to the virus. It is the first death reported since May 26, bringing the total death toll to 5,227.
Earlier, death was reported in Shanghai which witnessed a major springtime surge in cases.
Even after rampant policy changes, China still imposes one of the world’s strictest Covid restrictions, and the measures in Beijing and other cities have renewed investors’ worries over the economy and prompted global stocks and oil prices to slip overnight.
According to the in-house index of Nomura, it estimated that localities accounting for about 19.9 per cent of China’s total gross domestic product were under some form of lockdown or curbs, up from 15.6 per cent last Monday.