China battles worst Covid-19 outbreak in 2 years, goes back to lockdowns as world opens up

The Chinese government has placed all 17.5 million residents of high-tech Shenzhen city under lockdown after the country reported nearly 3,400 domestic Covid-19 cases including 1,807 symptomatic ones, the highest in over two years, across 19 provinces.

After topping 1,000 new cases for two days in a row, new locally transmitted cases in China surged to more than 3,100, the National Health Commission reported on Sunday. This is the highest in two years.

According to local media reports, Shenzhen will seal all communities, villages and suspend bus and metro services from Monday to Sunday due to the latest COVID-19 outbreak. The situation is such that China is on the brink of its biggest COVID-19 crisis since Wuhan.

The big spikes in cases came after a top Chinese official claimed on March 4 that China is one of the best performers in curbing the COVID-19 pandemic and attributed the success to its stringent zero-case policy of restricting national and international travel with proactive local lockdowns wherever the virus surfaced.

Meanwhile, the situation continues to deteriorate in Hong Kong where officials confirmed 27,647 new Covid-19 cases, including 11,858 positive.