Changchun Locked Down, Shanghai Schools Shut

The Omicron variant has forced the northeastern mainland city of Changchun to go under lockdown and Shanghai to close schools.

The National Health Commission detected 703 domestically transmitted asymptomatic infections for Thursday, up from 435 a day earlier. Another 397 local symptomatic cases, which are classified separately from symptom-less infections, were reported.

Several cities with infections have taken measures such as launching multiple rounds of mass testing, limiting vehicular access to highways, cutting face-to-face classes in school and suspending indoor entertainment venues.

In the northeastern province of Jilin, now one of the hardest-hit regions, the capital city Changchun on Friday ordered all but essential businesses to halt operations and banned its 9 million citizens from leaving their residential compounds for non-essential reasons.

"We will make Covid prevention and control more science-based and targeted according to changes in the epidemic situation and characteristics of the virus," Premier Li Keqiang told a press conference after the close of the annual parliamentary session in Beijing.

"Since the epidemic started, the service sector has been hit the most, especially those involving in-person contact, of which medium and small-firms account for the majority."

Shanghai, also fighting its biggest outbreak in around two years, said that from Saturday it would shift classes for all primary, middle and high schools online and suspend kindergartens and pre-schools.

Without giving details, the delivery and logistics firm SF Express said on Friday it had suspended deliveries of parcels and mail to the mainland from Hong Kong and Macau, citing the mainland's virus control requirements. (Reuters)