China’s COVID-19 situation continues to worsen

Shenzhen: Amid the worsening COVID-19 situation in China, a video surfaced on Thursday showing hundreds of people standing in queues to get tested for the virus in the Southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The video purportedly from the locality of Shajing in Shenzhen also showed dozens of ambulances that were claimed to be transporting COVID-19 patients from the city to makeshift isolation centres.

Shenzhen officials had earlier imposed a lockdown for one week. Nonessential workers are ordered to stay home and adults have been asked to undergo three P.C.R. tests. China mainland reported 1,226 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, comparatively lower than Tuesday’s 1,860 cases.

Of these new local infections, the north-eastern province of Jilin lodged 742 cases, Fujian Province reported 99 cases, the southern province of Guangdong which includes the city of Shenzhen reported 83 cases and northeast China’s Liaoning Province registered 83 cases, Xinhua reported citing the Chinese National Health Commission.

Earlier, On Tuesday, China had reported two times more new COVID-19 cases from Monday as the country faces, by far, the biggest outbreak since the pandemic began.

Amid a rapid resurgence of COVID-19 cases, Shanghai-based renowned infectious disease expert Zhang Wenhong remarked that Beijing should take the period as an opportunity to lay out anti-epidemic strategies that are complete and sustainable.

He made these remarks in a post on the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo on Monday. He said that it is “the most difficult period” for China since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Zhang noted that it is “still not time for China to lie flat”.

“We should have clearer methods for the future rather than debating over zero-COVID or co-existence,” he was quoted as saying by the Chinese state media tabloid Global Times.

The state media reported that Chinese observers warned local governments to avoid taking extreme measures such as city lockdowns, as they would harm the local economy.