Jilin 'severe' As Mainland Covid Cases Surge

Daily local Covid cases on the mainland have more than doubled as the country battles its biggest outbreak in two years fuelled by the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

The National Health Commission on Tuesday reported 3,507 new locally transmitted infections in the past day, up from 1,337 on Sunday.

The northeastern province of Jilin, which is under lockdown, again accounted for most of the latest cases, with 3,076.

Jing Junhai, the party secretary of Jilin Province, said Covid infections are still on rise and the situation there remains "severe and complicated".

He said the province must "seize every minute and second" to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Jilin governor Han Jun said authorities aim to completely eliminate transmissions in a week.

Elsewhere, Guangdong province saw 48 local infections, with 39 of them in Shenzhen and the rest in Dongguan.

Shenzhen, a metropolis of 17 million people, has been under lockdown since Monday. Residents are urged to stay home as authorities carry out three rounds of universal testing.

A Hong Kong resident living in Shenzhen, surnamed Chow, told a radio programme that while the lockdown came at short notice, he was not surprised.

"We are used to this, we already got tested more than 10 times this year... This time isn't any different," he said.

He said it only took around 10 minutes to get tested, with the result coming back in around 10 hours.

Chow added that people in his district appeared to be calm, and not a lot of them were panic-buying.

Another Shenzhen-based Hong Kong resident, surnamed Tong, said public announcements were made in his area, notifying people to get tested.

He said buildings will immediately be sealed off once authorities identify confirmed cases there, but it doesn't affect people's daily lives.

"We can still order takeouts. There's an area downstairs for people to collect what they've ordered online," he said.

Dongguan is on lockdown for a week, and its residents will also undergo several rounds of testing.

Schools and dine-in services at restaurants are being suspended, and only supermarkets, farmers' markets, pharmacies and healthcare facilities remain open.

Residents of Shanghai are also being tested amid an outbreak there, which also saw individual apartment blocks cordoned off.

China's aviation regulator said 106 international flights scheduled to arrive in Shanghai will be diverted to other Chinese cities from March 21 to May 1 due to Covid. (Additional reporting by Reuters)