China Covid-19 cases double to 5,280 within 24 hours due to 'Stealth Omicron'

Covid-19 pandemic is once again wreaking havoc in China. A record 5,280 new cases were registered in 24-hours. According to the National Health Commission (NHC), this is the largest number of new cases found in a single day since the beginning of Covid-19 pandemic.

The Omicron variant is spreading very fast across China with the Jilin province worse affected. More than 3,000 domestic transmissions were reported on Monday. On the previous day, 1,337 cases of infection were reported in many cities of the mainland China.

On Monday, more than 13 lakh new cases were reported worldwide. Whereas 3579 people have died due to the infection. About 3300 cases were reported in China on Sunday. The number of infections reported is the highest in the last 2 years. Schools have already been closed in Shanghai to prevent the spread of infection.

Read | China battles worst Covid-19 outbreak since Wuhan, cases triple in 24-hours

In the last one week, new cases of Covid-19 have been reported in Shenzhen, Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang provinces including Beijing, Shanghai. This is expected to seriously affect the Chinese economy once again. On the other hand, WHO scientist Maria Van Kerkhove has said that a mixture of Omicron and Delta may develop a new variant in the world which can bring the fourth wave of the pandemic.

Amidst sudden surge in cases across China, a variant of Omicron is said to be responsible. Called 'Stealth Omicron', this variant is actually a BA.2 sub-variant that is more infectious than the original Omicron strain. The virus was first detected in Wuhan, China. Since then, the Zero Covid policy is in force in China. 

Showing a lot of strictness, China had implemented many restrictions including lockdown and travel ban. There were also allegations of spreading this virus on China itself. Once again, due to the increasing outbreak of Covid-19 in China, the concern about this disease has increased worldwide.