China's daily Covid cases exceed 1,000 for the first time since Wuhan outbreak

The highly infectious Omicron variant has led to China's daily Covid-19 caseload exceeding 1,000 for the first time in two years since the initial outbreak in Wuhan in Central China's Hubei Province. The country reported 1,100 locally transmitted infections on Friday, data from the National Health Commission showed. 

In less than a week, the tally has increased from just over 300 cases a day to 1,100 infections. A total of 397 local confirmed Covid cases and 703 local asymptomatic infections were reported on Thursday, National Health Commission (NHC) said on Friday.

Covid-19 spread in the country's biggest cities, including financial hub Shanghai makes it difficult to deploy the aggressive restrictions. The 'Covid Zero' strategy has helped keep China largely virus-free for much of the pandemic now.

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China is seeing more people infected without obvious symptoms than those who are sick due to the virus. The main reasons for it is Omicron's diminished virulence and China's mass vaccination drive that has seen nearly 90% of its 1.4 billion people fully inoculated with locally-developed shots.

One-third of China's vaccinated individuals have also taken the booster dose. The new data from China shows 703 cases that are asymptomatic. It has been two years since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the virus is changing all the time.