The Chinese mainland on Monday reported its highest number of daily new local symptomatic COVID-19 infections in about two years.
According to data released by Beijing’s National Health Commission, the country recorded 214 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms as of Sunday. A majority of these cases were traced back to the provinces of Guangdong, Jilin, and Shandong. A major cluster consisting of 88 new infections was reported among middle school students in the port city of Qingdao, which is located in Shandong, this weekend.
Meanwhile, the number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not acknowledge as confirmed cases, stood at 442, compared with 209 a day earlier. There were no new deaths, which has left the death toll unchanged at 4,636. Of these, 3,341 deaths had already been reported by April 2020.
This latest spike marks the country’s highest daily caseload since March 2020, when the Chinese government began to separately count local infections and cases arriving from outside the mainland.
China reports 500 new Covid cases on Monday - its highest number in two years.
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) March 7, 2022
Clusters in more than a dozen cities are posing a fresh challenge to Beijing's zero-Covid policyhttps://t.co/xdkBXTSAD3 pic.twitter.com/tjYemlm1MQ
In response to the rising cases, China has pushed its citizens to follow stringent zero-COVID policies and prolonged lockdowns. Despite more than 80% of the population being vaccinated, authorities have been mass testing at regular intervals.
The policies have been met with concern internationally, with scientists believing that the policies may not work and will only further strain locals. As part of its response, Beijing also brought home 2,000 Chinese nationals and banned the entry of foreign nationals by cancelling all existing visas back in April 2020.
Both Chinese vaccines, Sinopharm and Sinovac, have been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use, and are already in use in dozens of countries. When it approved the jab in June, the WHO said that studies showed the Sinovac vaccine “prevented symptomatic disease in 51% of those vaccinated and prevented severe COVID-19 and hospitalization in 100% of the studied population” for adults aged 18 and older.
Similarly, a study conducted by Chinese researchers showed that the Sinopharm booster shot has “significantly lower” neutralising activity against the Omicron variant. The paper also added that the vaccine’s efficacy against the Omicron variant remains unclear. According to the WHO, Sinopharm has an efficacy of 79% against symptomatic infection 14 or more days after the second dose, while its efficacy against hospitalization is 79%. In comparison, other vaccines such as those from Pfizer and Moderna have an efficacy rate of 94% or higher.