#16,632
After two years of reporting improbably low of daily COVID case numbers - often only in the double digits - and no deaths in more than a year, China is facing its biggest test since the original Wuhan outbreak was brought under control in February of 2020.
That original strain we now know, was far less transmissible than the variants that were to follow (D614G, Alpha, Delta, Omicron, etc.), and easier to contain.
Through strict Zero-COVID policies, China, Hong Kong, and Macao have all managed to keep COVID under remarkable control these past two years. At least until the Omicron variant arrived in Hong Kong in December of 2021.
Thirty days ago Hong Kong passed the 1,000 daily cases mark (see Hong Kong `Overwhelmed' By Record COVID Cases), while Mainland China continued to report about 100 cases a day. A week later, with cases exceeding 5,000 a day, Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered `advisors' to Hong Kong to help quell the epidemic, and prevent it from surging into the Mainland.
Up until a week ago, Mainland China was still reporting fewer than 300 `cases' a day (Note: China makes a distinction between `confirmed cases' and `asymptomatically infected', which allows them to report lower `confirmed' case counts).
Starting about a week ago, those numbers began to rise, with the NHC reporting 555 confirmed cases, and 814 asymptomatic infections last Friday. Forty-eight hours later, that number has more than doubled, with the NHC reporting 1,938 confirmed cases, and 1,455 new asymptomatic infections over the past 24 hours.
While the bulk of cases are being reported from Jilin province, more than half of China's provinces reported confirmed cases in the past 24 hours. Of particular concern for China's Zero-COVID policy, many recent cases have been identified as the highly transmissible Omicron BA.2 subvariant.
With Hong Kong reporting upwards of 30,000 cases a day, and South Korea averaging over 300,000 cases a day this past week, Chinese officials are all too aware how quickly Omicron can spread and overwhelm essential services, and they are understandably desperate to prevent that.
Even a `less severe' Omicron virus poses a substantial threat in large enough numbers. And given China's relatively low level of acquired immunity - and homegrown vaccines that are expected to provide little protection against Omicron - China's experience with Omicron may not mirror other countries.
A week ago, China's biggest COVID concern was containing the outbreak in Hong Kong. Today, with cases rising rapidly on the Mainland, they have much bigger fish to fry.
The latest (translated) report from China's National Health Commision reads:
The latest situation of the new coronavirus pneumonia as of 24:00 on March 12Release time: 2022-03-13 Source: Office of Health Emergencies
From 0 to 24:00 on March 12 , 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported 1,938 new confirmed cases . Among them, 131 were imported cases ( 39 in Zhejiang , 34 in Guangdong , 13 in Shanghai , 12 in Beijing , 11 in Shandong , 6 in Tianjin , 4 in Liaoning , 4 in Guangxi , 3 in Sichuan , 2 in Jilin , and 1 in Jiangsu ) . , 1 case in Anhui, 1 case in Fujian ), including 45 cases from asymptomatic infection to confirmed cases ( 39 cases in Zhejiang, 2 cases in Beijing, 2 cases in Tianjin , 1 case in Anhui, 1 case in Sichuan ) ; local cases 1807( 1412 cases in Jilin , including 831 in Changchun, 571 in Jilin , 9 in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture , and 1 in Siping ; 175 in Shandong , including 150 in Qingdao, 13 in Dezhou , 5 in Zibo, and 1 in Weihai. 5 in Beijing, 1 in Rizhao , and 1 in Binzhou ; 62 in Guangdong , including 60 in Shenzhen and 2 in Dongguan ; 39 in Shaanxi , including 31 in Baoji, 6 in Xi'an , and 2 in Hanzhong ; Hebei 33 cases, including 23 cases in Langfang City , 9 cases in Cangzhou City , and 1 case in Baoding City ; 23 cases in Jiangsu , all in Lianyungang City; 17 cases in Tianjin, including Xiqing District8 cases, 5 cases in Wuqing District , 3 cases in Hexi District , 1 case in Jinnan District ; 15 cases in Zhejiang , including 12 in Hangzhou, 1 in Jiaxing, 1 in Huzhou, and 1 in Quzhou ; 8 in Chongqing , all in Shapingba District; 6 in Beijing, including 3 in Chaoyang District , 1 in Haidian District, 1 in Mentougou District, and 1 in Shunyi District ; 5 in Gansu , including 4 in Lanzhou New District and 1 in Lanzhou City ; 3 in Heilongjiang , all in Harbin 2 in Guizhou , both in Zunyi; 2 in Yunnan , both in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture; 1 in Inner Mongolia, in Hulunbuir; 1 in Liaoning , in Shenyang; 1 in Shanghai, in Minhang District; 1 in Henan For example, in Puyang City; Hunan1 case, in Xiangtan City), including 114 cases converted from asymptomatic infections to confirmed cases ( 111 in Shandong, 1 in Beijing , 1 in Zhejiang , and 1 in Henan ). No new deaths were reported. No new suspected cases were reported.
There were 169 newly cured and discharged cases on the same day , 8,084 close contacts who were released from medical observation , and the severe cases were the same as the previous day.
There are 2,587 confirmed cases imported from abroad (including 2 severe cases ) and 4 suspected cases . A total of 16,237 confirmed cases , 13,650 cured and discharged cases , and no deaths.
As of 24:00 on March 12 , according to reports from 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, there were 7,230 confirmed cases ( including 6 severe cases ), 103,600 cured and discharged cases , and 4,636 deaths . , a total of 115,466 confirmed cases have been reported , and there are 4 suspected cases . A total of 1,786,279 close contacts have been traced, and 142,351 close contacts are still under medical observation .
31 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government) and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported 1,455 new cases of asymptomatic infections, including 140 imported cases and 1,315 domestic cases ( 744 cases in Jilin, including 697 cases in Jilin City, 42 cases in Changchun City, Yanbian North Korea) There were 3 cases in the ethnic autonomous prefecture , 1 case in Siping City, and 1 case in Meihekou City ; 194 cases in Guangdong , including 188 in Dongguan and 6 in Shenzhen ; 172 in Shandong , including 78 in Qingdao, 74 in Weihai, and 11 in Zibo . , 4 in Dezhou , 2 in Weifang, 1 in Yantai, 1 in Liaocheng, and 1 in Binzhou ; 64 in Shanghai , including 35 in Pudong New Area and 10 in Minhang District4 in Jinshan District , 3 in Huangpu District, 3 in Baoshan District, 3 in Jiading District , 2 in Changning District , 1 in Xuhui District, 1 in Jing'an District, 1 in Putuo District, and 1 in Songjiang District ; 40 in Hebei Among them, 33 cases were in Langfang City , 6 cases in Cangzhou City , and 1 case in Shijiazhuang City ; 36 cases in Gansu , including 19 cases in Lanzhou New District, 9 cases in Baiyin City , and 8 cases in Lanzhou City ; 20 cases in Yunnan , including 18 cases in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture 1 in Kunming, 1 in Lincang ; 19 in Jiangsu , including 16 in Lianyungang, 2 in Suqian, 1 in Yangzhou ; 9 in Tianjin
Among them, 4 cases were in Wuqing District , 1 case in Hedong District, 1 case in Hexi District, 1 case in Nankai District, 1 case in Xiqing District, and 1 case in Binhai New Area ; 9 cases in Guangxi , including 4 cases in Chongzuo City and 3 cases in Liuzhou City , 2 cases in Fangchenggang City ; 4 cases in Shaanxi , including 3 cases in Xi'an and 1 case in Baoji City ; 2 cases in Liaoning , both in Dandong City; 1 case in Beijing, in Chaoyang District; 1 case in Chongqing, in Shapingba District); There were 159 confirmed cases ( 45 imported from abroad); 85 medical observations were released on the same day ( 61 imported from abroad ); 6287 asymptomatic infections were still under medical observation ( 1486 imported from abroad ).
A total of 276,250 confirmed cases have been reported from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan . Among them, there were 254,943 cases in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ( 27,202 discharged and 3,729 deaths ), 82 in the Macau Special Administrative Region ( 79 discharged), and 21,225 in Taiwan (13,742 discharged and 853 deaths ).
