:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/T4BK2B4LERC7TDFZDNLELMBO5Y.jpg "China registers its highest number of coronavirus infections in six months: more than 5,600 new cases")
China recorded its highest number of covid-19 coronavirus infections on Monday despite the confinements that have affected manufacturing, education and daily life in the country.
The country reported more than 5,600 new cases of covid-19 on Monday, almost half of them in the province of Cantona manufacturing center in the south with important commercial ports.
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Beijing this weekend ended hopes of a possible relaxation of its strict zero covid policy.which includes confinements, quarantines and massive tests to contain even the smallest outbreak of contagion.
A spate of scandals linked to the lockdowns, with residents reporting lack of food and delays in medical care, undermined public confidence in the measures.
Almost 60 new infections were discovered in Beijing, what caused the closure of schools in the central district of Chaoyang. Some companies have also asked their staff to work from home temporarily.
This came despite city authorities saying on Monday that the recent “successive outbreaks” had been “basically effectively controlled”.
A lockdown at the world’s largest iPhone factory in Zhengzhou prompted Apple to warn on Sunday that production was “temporarily impacted” and that customers will face delays in receiving their orders.
“Plant [de Zhengzhou] currently operates at a significantly reduced capacity”, Apple said in a statement late Sunday.
Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, which runs the plant, revised down its quarterly revenue due to the lockdown.
China’s National Health Commission said on Saturday it would maintain a zero-Covid policy, burying rumors that Beijing would ease its strict health policy.
However, various incidents are undermining Chinese public support for this policy.
The suicide death of a 55-year-old woman in the Inner Mongolian city of Hohhot sparked widespread protests over the weekend, after authorities admitted lockdown protocols delayed their emergency response.
The region has been experiencing a major outbreak since the end of September, when a new variant of omicron was detected for the first time. Shortly before the woman jumped from a window, her relatives had informed community workers that she suffered from an anxiety disorder and had shown suicidal intent.
Source: Elcomercio
I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.
