The zero-tolerance approach leaves the country isolated in a world that’s largely moved to existing with the virus, and keeps businesses and residents living with the constant threat of getting stuck in a cycle of disruptive shutdowns and reopenings. While authorities are yet to roll out strict lockdowns in major parts of the country, President Xi Jinping last week reaffirmed the country would stick to Covid Zero and said China would rather endure some temporary impact on economic development than let the virus hurt people’s safety and health. The fresh flareups and the local spread of a highly infectious omicron variant show the challenges authorities face in stamping out coronavirus, and signals economic pain may persist. The western city of Xi’an reported 11 cases and ordered entertainment venues to close and restaurants to suspend dine-in services for a week, while schools will start their summer vacation early, following the detection of BA.5. The BA.5.2 subvariant was found in the capital, with a person returning from overseas testing positive after being released from quarantine and infecting about a dozen people, mostly hotel staff in one district. Meanwhile, outbreaks in Beijing, which reported six infections for Tuesday, and part of the country’s west have been linked to a highly infectious omicron subvariant, adding to concerns that the virus has been spreading undetected. Concerns about a setback to the city’s reopening helped push China’s CSI 300 Index as much as 2.1% lower, the biggest drop since late May. That’s prompted a ramp up of mass testing, with 10 districts and parts of two others - out of the financial hub’s total of 16 - conducting two PCR tests over three days to stamp out transmission. While a small number, the detection of infected people outside isolation and across several city districts raises concerns that the virus could already be spreading widely. Shanghai reported 24 infections for Tuesday, the most in three weeks, with health officials announcing separately on Wednesday that two additional cases were found outside quarantine. China’s Covid Zero strategy is being tested anew after a jump in infections across Shanghai raised the specter of another lockdown, while a highly infectious subvariant started spreading in the country for the first time.
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