Shanghai: The economic hub of China battles with the worst covid hit in their city as they log 3,200 confirmed covid cases on Thursday, shooting up the total count of covid carriers to 19,872 asymptomatic carriers, as confirmed by the Municipal Health Commission.
The recent spike in cases has thrown more than 20 million people under lockdown. Shanghai on Wednesday logged 2,573 cases registered locally.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijan in a press conference said that the ‘dynamic’ Zero-COVID policy and anti-epidemic protocols are based on science and experts’ opinions. The statement came after the policy received sharp criticism.
He further added that these measures have some impact on daily life and production but all control measures “come at a price”.
Wu Huanyu, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the delay in the screening of data has led to an increase over the past few days.
He further added that the workload of nucleic acid testing is huge since if mixed samples test positive, the suspicious samples will be tested individually and verified again. He also said that one of the reasons for increasing numbers is family infection and the latent and fast-spreading characteristics of the Omicron variant.