China’s cities battle first wave of COVID surge as wider spread looms
On Sunday, the streets of major Chinese cities were eerily quiet as residents stayed inside to guard against a spike of COVID-19 cases that has affected urban centers all throughout the country.
According to Wu Zunyou, the nation’s top epidemiologist, China is currently experiencing the first of three waves of COVID cases this winter. If individuals follow usual travel patterns and use mass transit to return to their homes for the Lunar New Year vacation next month, cases might spread throughout the nation.
Since Dec. 7, when China immediately lifted most limitations essential to a zero-COVID tolerance policy in response to enormous public demonstrations against the protocol, no COVID deaths have been officially reported in China. President Xi Jinping had promoted this tactic.
Mass testing for the virus has come to a stop as part of the relaxation of the zero-COVID limitations, raising questions about the accuracy of the officially reported case numbers in describing the scope of the outbreak. On December 17, China reported 2,097 new symptomatic COVID infections.
The highly contagious Omicron variety has already disrupted services in Beijing, ranging from catering to package deliveries. The 22 million-person city’s funeral houses and crematoriums are also having trouble keeping up with demand.
Internet users lamented delivery delays while social media images depicted deserted subways in the northwest Chinese city of Xian.
The streets of Chengdu were desolate, but a local by the name of Zhang reported that food delivery times were getting faster as services started to adjust to the recent spike in cases.
However, she noted that finding antigen test kits was still a challenge. She claimed, citing the supplier, that her most recent order had been changed to go to hospitals.
