Macao: China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) reported 30 new confirmed locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center of Macao said on Saturday.
A total of 56 people tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, with 23 of them detected during quarantine, the center said. As of Friday, a total of 694 people had tested positive in the latest outbreak in the Macao SAR since June 19, 424 of whom were asymptomatic, reported Xinhua.
Two new cases of Covid-19 were recently found in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, though Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasised on the zero-COVID policy during his visit to the city last week.
According to the Chinese publication Daily Mail, two port workers in Wuhan have been reported as showing signs of asymptomatic infection in the first confirmed cases there in a month.
COVID-19 returned to the central Chinese city where it first emerged just days after Xi visited the sprawling city and reinstated his desire to see whole cities locked down and subject to harsh restrictions in order to contain the virus, the Daily Mail reported.
The Chinese mainland on Friday reported 183 local COVID-19 cases, including 38 confirmed and 145 asymptomatic cases. Daily cases on Friday expanded from the previous day when the number of cases exceeded the 100 mark for the first time in 15 days.
Sixian County in Suzhou City, east China's Anhui Province, has reported 43 locally-transmitted confirmed cases of COVID-19 since June 26. 236 asymptomatic cases were also reported in the province during this period.
As of Friday noon, 14,151 people had been quarantined, while closed-off management has been implemented across Sixian County. Three rounds of mass COVID-19 testing have been conducted across the county, and the fourth round is currently underway, reported Xinhua.
Speaking about the zero-COVID policy in his remark during the inspection in Wuhan, Hubei Province, on Tuesday, Xi Jinping said, this coronavirus measure was formulated by the CPC Central Committee based on the Party's nature and purpose, as well as the country's national conditions.
Xi said China's response measures and anti-epidemic policy have protected people's lives and health to the greatest extent. He stressed that the COVID-19 epidemic has posed a serious test for the country.
"We have always put the people and their lives first, worked hard to prevent both inbound cases and domestic resurgences, upheld a dynamic zero-COVID policy, and kept adjusting epidemic prevention and control measures in light of new developments," Xi added.
Chinese President's defence of the zero-COVID policy comes as the second-largest economy in the world continues to implement strict measures to eliminate pandemics within its borders, despite warnings from the World Health Organization that such an approach is unsustainable.
In the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, Chinese authorities have tried every possible measure including the controversial zero-Covid policy to bring the viral transmission down. But everything is in vain. The number of cases is rising at a high rate, crippling normal life in China.
China's much-publicized 'zero-Covid' strategy that the government credited for bringing the country out of the pandemic till recently is falling apart as the rapidly mounting cases are again forcing mass lockdowns like those seen in 2020.