Shanghai marathon off as China’s Covid-19 outbreak passes 1,000 cases
- City postpones race after marathons were also called off in Wuhan, Shijiazhuang and Beijing
- But country’s daily case tally is lowest in two weeks and restrictions on movement are lifted in 90 areas in Erenhot, Inner Mongolia
But the National Health Commission on Wednesday reported the lowest daily figure in just shy of two weeks, with 39 new local symptomatic cases. It also reported 25 asymptomatic cases – which it does not count in its official case tally – and 29 imported cases, 15 of them symptomatic.
That took the outbreak’s total local symptomatic cases to 1,023, so far traced to two separate chains of transmission starting in the northern Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Heilongjiang province in the northeast.
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“Please know that our every decision was made on the premise that we have a responsibility to runners and the city,” the Shanghai organisers said. “We have chosen to be cautious and have chosen to prioritise the health and safety of runners and citizens.”