Omicron: China reports 80 new confirmed cases in zero-Covid bid as other nations battle to contain virus
- 40 local cases reported on Tuesday, including 29 in Liaoning province bordering North Korea
- Since the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics in early February, China has reported relatively low numbers of confirmed cases
Among the 80 new confirmed cases reported on Tuesday, 40 were imported. The remaining 40 local cases were an increased on the 26 reported a day earlier.
The National Health Commission said 29 of the local cases were in Liaoning province, eight were in Jiangsu, two were in Shenzhen in Guangdong province and one was in Baise in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
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In Liaoning, a northeastern province on the border with North Korea, 28 cases were reported in the coastal city of Huludao.
Since the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics in early February, China has reported relatively low numbers of confirmed cases compared with its 1.4 billion population, reporting a daily average of 81.4 local and imported cases in the past week.
This figure, which nears China’s goal of zero-Covid, is in contrast to the rest of the world where authorities are struggling with the rapid spread of the virus, especially with the Omicron variant.
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Britain, a country with a population of 67.2 million, recorded 41,648 new confirmed cases and 35 Covid-related deaths on Monday, while the Netherlands, with 17.4 million people, logged 55,011 confirmed cases the same day.
Despite the cases, the Dutch government has recently announced plans to drop Covid-19 restrictions by the end of the month.
The World Health Organization recently warned countries against taking either of two extreme approaches to the virus.
