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November 25, 2022

Anna Murray 

China reported 32,695 new local cases on November 24 after excluding imported illnesses. This number surpassed the previous record set in mid-April, when the commercial center of Shanghai was paralyzed by a two-month long citywide lockdown involving its 25 million citizens.

The most recent outbreaks, including those in Beijing and Guangzhou, are what are causing the spike. This comes after the government's zero-COVID policy was slightly relaxed a few weeks ago. For instance, the quarantine time was cut from 10 to 8 days, and mass testing requirements were eliminated in at least 8 locations, including Shanghai.

However, China moved to stop the virus's spread as COVID instances increased this week. On November 24, Beijing city officials declared they would turn an exhibition center into a temporary medical facility to house and treat COVID sufferers. Earlier this week, schools in many districts of the city switched to online instruction.

With widespread testing and lockdown regulations, China is the last big economy to continue its Covid eradication efforts, and virus instances have been reported in 31 provinces. Part of the reason is that vaccination rates are lower than in other developed countries, with only half of people over the age of 80 receiving their primary vaccinations. Despite evidence showing that its domestically produced vaccines have not been as successful, China has rejected to import vaccines.