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Coronavirus pandemic
ChinaDiplomacy

China’s crop of new coronavirus cases defies ‘zero tolerance’ strategy

  • More than 200 new infections to start the week, with 69 reported in the southern border province of Guangdong
  • Other outbreaks in Jilin province in the northeast and Shandong in the east

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“Zero tolerance” requires quarantines and lockdowns of entire communities and sometimes even cities when as few as a handful of cases have been detected. Photo: AP
Associated Press
A new surge in Covid-19 cases is occurring across China, despite the country’s “zero tolerance” approach to dealing with outbreaks.
The mainland on Monday reported 214 new cases of infection, with the most, 69, in the southern province of Guangdong on the border with Hong Kong, which has been recording tens of thousands of cases per day.

Another 54 cases were reported in the Jilin province, more than 2,000km (1,200 miles) to the north, and 46 in the eastern province of Shandong.

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In his annual report to the national legislature on Saturday, Premier Li Keqiang said China needed to “constantly refine epidemic containment” but gave no indication Beijing might ease the “zero tolerance” strategy.

Li called for accelerating vaccine development and “strengthening epidemic controls” in cities where travellers and goods arrived from abroad.

“Zero tolerance” requires quarantines and lockdowns of entire communities and sometimes even cities when as few as a handful of cases have been detected.

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