New Covid-19 outbreaks spark unease in China

A spate of new cases in Wuhan city of China, where the virus Covid-19 originated at the end of last year, has prompted fears of a fresh wave of infections as five new cases were reported on Sunday.

This is city’s the highest number of new infections since 11 March. The new cases, all local transmissions, were among 17 new cases nationwide, the highest in almost two weeks.

Authorities in Wuhan imposed draconian restrictions on travel and movement in what appeared to have been a successful bid to quash the outbreak.

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities on Sunday reclassified Shulan, a city near the Russian and North Korean borders, as high risk, after a cluster of cases connected to a woman with no known history of travel or exposure to the virus.

Five locally transmitted cases were in three provinces which border Russia or North Korea – three in Jilin, and one each in Heilongjiang and Liaoning.

All of Jilin’s new cases were in Shulan city, including a 28-year-old woman, a 45-year-old man and a 56-year-old man, bringing the city’s total to 12.

Chinese state media, CGTN, said authorities have ordered the temporary closure of all public places in Shulan, including sports facilities, cinemas and libraries, and for all residents to stay home except under “unusual circumstances”. Students in their final year of middle or senior high school will return to online learning, it said. No taxis can leave the city, and all public transport has been suspended.

Reports of outbreaks came just a week after China designated all regions in the country as low or medium risk.

That lockdown began to ease in recent weeks, as authorities said the disease was under control, most recently with children returning to school, and travel to and from the city allowed.

China’s has reported a total of 82,918 cases and a death toll of 4,633.

(Source: The Guardian)