BEIJING, April 3 — China today reported 13,146 Covid cases, the highest since the peak of the first wave more than two years ago, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant spread to more than a dozen provinces.

“There were 1,455 patients with symptoms .... 11,691 asymptomatic cases... and no new deaths reported,” the National Health Commission said in a statement.

In China’s financial hub Shanghai, the epicentre of the country’s most severe Covid, outbreak, nearly all of its 25 million residents were under stay-at-home orders yesterday as officials rushed to curb the spread of the disease.

Today, the city had more than 8,200 local cases — nearly 70 per cent of the nationwide total, which is relatively low by global standards but troubling to a country that recorded just double-digit daily cases for much of the last two years.

Shanghai’s restrictions threaten to snarl supply chains, with shipping giant Maersk saying Friday that some depots in the city remained closed and trucking services would likely be hit further due to the lockdown.

Anger is rising among Shanghai residents over lockdowns that were initially announced as just for four days to mass-test the city, but now appear likely to drag into late next week or longer.

China, the country where the coronavirus was first detected in 2019, is among the last remaining places following a zero-Covid approach to the pandemic. 

 - AFP