China battles multiple outbreaks, driven by stealth omicron

China banned most people from leaving a coronavirus-hit northeastern
province and mobilized military reservists Monday as the
fast-spreading “stealth omicron” variant fuels the country's biggest
outbreak since the start of the pandemic two years ago.
The National Health Commission reported 1,337 locally transmitted
cases in the latest 24-hour period, including 895 in the industrial
province of Jilin. A government notice said that police permission
would be required for people to leave the area or travel from one
city to another (https://abcn.ws/36rA7oI).
The hard-hit province sent 7,000 reservists to help with the
response, from keeping order and registering people at testing
centers to using drones to carry out aerial spraying and
disinfection, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Hundreds of cases were reported in other provinces and cities
along China's east coast and inland as well. Beijing, which had six
new cases, and Shanghai, with 41, locked down residential and
office buildings where infected people had been found.
“Every day when I go to work, I worry that if our office building
will suddenly be locked down then I won’t be able to get home, so
I have bought a sleeping bag and stored some fast food in the office
in advance, just in case,” said Yimeng Li, a Shanghai resident.
While mainland China's numbers are small compared to many other
countries, and even the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong, they are
the highest since COVID-19 killed thousands in the central city of
Wuhan in early 2020. No deaths have been reported in the latest
outbreaks.
Hong Kong on Monday reported 26908 new cases and 249 deaths in
its latest 24-hour period. The city counts its cases differently than
the mainland, combining both rapid antigen tests and PCR test
results.
The city's leader, Carrie Lam, said authorities would not tighten
pandemic restrictions for now. “I have to consider whether the
public, whether the people would accept further measures,” she said
at a press briefing.
Mainland China has seen relatively few infections since the initial
Wuhan outbreak as the government has held fast to its zero-tolerance
strategy, which is focused on stopping transmission of the
coronavirus by relying on strict lockdowns and mandatory quarantines
for anyone who has come into contact with a positive case.
The government has indicated it will continue to stick to its
strategy of stopping transmission for the time being.
Officials on Sunday locked down the southern city of Shenzhen, which
has 17.5 million people and is a major tech and finance hub that
borders Hong Kong. That followed the lockdown of Changchun,
home to 9 million people in Jilin province, starting last Friday.
On Monday, Zhang Wenhong, a prominent infectious disease expert
at a hospital affiliated with Shanghai's Fudan University noted in
an essay for China's business outlet Caixin, that the numbers for the
mainland were still in the beginning stages of an “exponential rise.”
China's vast passenger rail network said it would cut service
significantly, and both China Railway and airlines said they would
offer free refunds to people who had already bought tickets. Shanghai
suspended bus service to other cities and provinces.
Shanghai has recorded 713 cases in March, of which 632 are
asymptomatic cases. China counts positive and asymptomatic cases
separately in its national numbers. Schools in China's largest city
have switched to remote learning.
In Beijing, several buildings were sealed off over the weekend.
Residents said they were willing to follow the zero-tolerance
policies despite any personal impact.
“I think only when the epidemic is totally wiped out can we ease
up," said Tong Xin, 38, a shop owner in the Silk Market, a
tourist-oriented mall in the Chinese capital.
Much of the current outbreak across Chinese cities is being driven
by the variant commonly known as “stealth omicron," or the B.A.2
lineage of the omicron variant, Zhang noted. Early research suggests
it spreads faster than the original omicron, which itself spread
faster than the original virus and other variants.
“But if our country opens up quickly now, it will cause a large
number of infections in people in a short period of time," Zhang
wrote Monday. "No matter how low the death rate is, it will still
cause a run on medical resources and a short term shock to social
life, causing irreparable harm to families and society.”