China’s Covid-19 outbreak worsens as weeklong spread in Beijing adds to Shanghai’s soaring death toll to send stock market plunging

Shanghai’s ew symptomatic cases rose by 2,472, while the death toll rose by 51, compelling the city to order another mass test for all residents on April 26

The Omicron virus has been spreading undetected in Beijing for about a week, health authorities said

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Beijing residents lining up to take nucleic acid tests at a makeshift testing site following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in the Chinese capital on April 25, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:00am, 25 Apr 2022Updated: 1:18pm, 31 May 2022

China’s Covid-19 outbreak worsened, as the Omicron variant spread undetected for a week in Beijing, adding to the weight of Shanghai’s soaring death toll and symptomatic cases that sent the stock market to its biggest slump in months.

Beijing’s symptomatic cases more than doubled to 60, as authorities acknowledged on Monday that the coronavirus had spread in the Chinese capital without being detected for about a week. Shanghai’s deaths soared to 51, while symptomatic cases jumped 76.4 per cent over 24 hours by 2,472, according to data released on Monday.

“The strongest measures must be taken to stop transmissions,” according to the Shanghai government’s statement, citing instructions by Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan on Sunday. “A prolonged coronavirus outbreak will cost more social resources if we do not contain the pandemic soon.”

China’s deteriorating Covid-19 situation sent the benchmark indexes in the world’s second-largest capital market tumbling, with the Shanghai Composite Index plummeting 5.1 per cent, while the Shenzhen Component Index tumbled 6.1 per cent. Slumps on the two bourses spilled over to Hong Kong, causing the key Hang Seng Index to fall by 4 per cent.

Medical staff at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the southern branch of Renji Hospital in Shanghai on April 24, 2022. Photo: Xinhua

Nationwide, China’s new coronavirus cases rose 4 per cent to 20,194 on Monday, most of them in Shanghai, the country’s new epicentre for the disease since March 1. Shanghai’ new infections fell 7.6 per cent to 19,455, bringing the city’s total cases to 506,000 since the start of March.

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