The health commission in Beijing on Thursday reported more than 31,000 new cases nationwide in the last 24 hours – the largest increase in cases since the chaos of the early days of the pandemic.
On Wednesday, the number of cases were 31,444 – a figure that broke a record set on April 13 when the commercial hub of Shanghai, home to 25 million people, was put under a two-month lockdown.
China continues to pursue a strict zero-COVID-19 strategy of lockdowns, daily mass testing, strict monitoring, contact-tracing and forced quarantine.
Nevertheless, the number of new infections has risen sharply again, especially in recent weeks, triggering increasing levels of restrictions.
Widespread lockdowns imposed across China as authorities there struggled this week to contain the country’s largest Covid-19 outbreak threaten to again create uncertainty in global supply chains and dim the prospects for world economic growth.
Beijing’s battle to contain the virus—including sharp restrictions on everyday life and commerce in cities from the major port city of Tianjin in the north to Guangzhou in the south—comes as economies elsewhere lose speed as central banks raise interest rates to beat back inflation.
The Chinese government had recently relaxed some COVID-19 rules, including a reduction in the duration of the quarantine period required when entering China from 10 to eight days.
New measures have recently been imposed in almost all main cities, including the capital, where schools, kindergartens and shops are closed and residents have been asked stay home if possible.
Increasingly, residential complexes are also being completely sealed off. In the particularly hard-hit southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou, which has seen violent protests against the COVID-19 measures, several districts are in total lockdown.