Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Despite a brutal Zero Covid policy and widespread lockdowns confining millions behind doors to stamp out the bug, China reported the first three deaths in Beijing in the last six months and over 28,000 infections on Tuesday across the country, underlining its failure to eradicate the pandemic from the communist nation widely seen as the epicenter of the scourge that has claimed millions of lives globally.
With over 28,000 new infections in a day, the highest since early 2020, China locked down a major transportation hub in the south and shut down schools in Beijing, as the country grapples with its largest Covid outbreak since April.
Guangdong province and Chongqing City reported over 16,000 and 6,300 cases, respectively. Fresh cases in Beijing also jumped in recent days, more than doubling from 621 on Sunday to Tuesday’s 1,438—a pandemic record for the capital city. On Monday, China recorded around 24,215 fresh infections.
With the widespread resurgence of Covid cases, China reimposed stringent curbs in the affected areas. Three elderly Beijing residents died from Covid over the weekend, authorities said, marking China’s first Covid deaths since May.
Many tourist attractions, gyms, and parks were closed, and crowd-pulling events like concerts were canceled as officials forced residents to stay at home and banned travel between districts.
Shijiazhuang, which had previously canceled mass testing, resumed a partial lockdown on Monday after cases surged.
Guangzhou, among China’s largest cities with nearly 19 million residents, imposed a five-day lockdown in the Baiyun district, which is home to one of the country’s busiest airports. Baiyun is also the most populous district in Guangzhou, housing 3.7 million people.
Schools were shut down, public transportation services suspended, and residents ordered to stay at home, the Baiyun district government said.
Meanwhile, Asian markets and oil prices slid on Monday as investors fretted about the prospect of China re-tightening Covid rules. The Hang Seng Index (HSI) slid as much as 3.4 percent in the morning and closed down 1.9 percent. Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.4 percent.