Chinese city reports Omicron outbreak

BEIJING: The Chinese port city of Qingdao reported 88 new coronavirus cases for March 5, all of them of the Omicron variant, fuelling China’s highest number of daily locally transmitted cases so far this year.

The Qingdao outbreak was mainly among middle school students in Laixi county, the Qingdao Municipal Health Commission said.

Laixi county will implement a second round of mass testing on March 7, a Qingdao official said at a news conference on Sunday, adding that there was no major risk of further outbreak.

China’s “dynamic clearance” approach to COVID-19 aims shut off transmission routes as soon as new cases are detected.

The Qingdao outbreak helped send China’s total local confirmed case count to its highest since Dec. 31, with other cases reported mainly in Jilin, Guangdong and Hebei provinces, according to the NHC.

The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, stood at 209, compared with 166 a day earlier.

As of March 5, mainland China had confirmed 110,868 COVID-19 cases and 4,636 fatalities.

China reported 329 new confirmed coronavirus cases on the mainland on March 5, the national health authority said on Sunday, compared with 281 cases a day earlier.

Of the new confirmed cases, 175 were locally transmited, the National Health Commission said, up from 102 the prior day. Eighty-eight of the new local cases were in Qingdao in the eastern Shandong province.

The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, stood at 209 cases versus 166 a day earlier.

There were no new deaths, leaving the death toll unchanged at 4,636.

As of March 5, mainland China had confirmed 110,868 cases.

China will cope with local COVID-19 outbreaks in a “science-based, targeted” manner to maintain the normal order of life, according to a government work report released at the open of the country’s annual meeting of parliament on Saturday.