Guangzhou battles Covid-19 surge as cases across China hit 6-month high
- Southern city reports nearly 2,000 coronavirus infections on Monday in new outbreak driven by Omicron BA.5.2 variant
- The metropolis of 18 million faces its ‘most complex and severe’ pandemic control challenge in three years, health official says
The surge came as cases across the country jumped to a six-month high.
Guangdong province reported a total of 185 confirmed local cases and 1,882 asymptomatic cases on Monday, with 122 confirmed cases and 1,813 asymptomatic cases in the provincial capital Guangzhou.
It was the second day in a row the city, which has a population of roughly 18 million, had reported more than 1,000 daily cases.
Over the weekend, Zhang Yi, deputy director of the Guangzhou health commission, said the city was “experiencing the most complex and severe Covid-19 prevention and control situation in three years”.
About 94 per cent of the new cases in the past few days had been in the densely populated district of Haizhu, Guangzhou authorities said on Monday.
This week, the main battle against Covid-19 will continue to be fought in Haizhu, with more than 2,500 medical workers sent to the area to do door-to-door testing.