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BEIJING: China on Wednesday reported thousands of new cases from an Omicron-led coronavirus outbreak that has put millions under lockdown and raised fears for the health system.
The country recorded 3,290 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, including 11 severe cases. After an alarming rising in the cases hospitals were directed to boost beds space for new patients.
The total was down on Tuesday’s count of more than 5,000, but the highly transmissible variant is posing the sternest challenge yet to China’s ‘zero-Covid’ strategy to contain the pandemic.
China, where the first virus case emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, has not officially reported any Covid-related deaths for more than a year.
Under strict Covid-19 protocols, the country previously sent all patients with any symptoms to specialist hospitals.
But a steep jump in cases, which has led to the 17.5 million residents of the southern tech hub of Shenzhen being locked down and restrictions imposed on Shanghai and other cities, has driven concerns over looming bed shortages.
The National Health Commission late Tuesday said patients with mild Covid cases could isolate at a central quarantine facility to ease pressure on hospitals.
Images of patients lying on gurneys outside hospitals in Hong Kong, where hospitals have been overrun by a surge in cases, have spooked mainland officials, who are now also rushing to build makeshift hospitals in some provinces.
