China shuts Shanghai schools, looks to divert flights as Covid returns

 China is experiencing its most significant Covid-19 outbreak since the early days of the pandemic, igniting a flurry of new restrictions and mitigation measures as the country’s zero-tolerance approach to the virus is challenged like never before.

Domestic infections topped 1,000 for the first time since the peak of the original Wuhan outbreak on Friday, a tally that has ballooned from just over 300 cases a day in less than a week. The country responded by locking down a city of 9 million people in the northeast and ordering the construction of makeshift hospitals there and in the eastern port city of Qingdao.An outbreak of the omicron variant in Shanghai saw schools in there shuttered again, while officials are said to be looking at diverting all international flights away from the financial center to ease pressure on quarantine hotels. China isolates all virus cases, including those in the community, as part of its Covid Zero policy.In a move that may signal Beijing is expecting a further spike in cases, authorities said they would allow the use of rapid antigen tests for the first time late Friday. While used widely in other parts of the world, rapid tests were previously restricted in China.The Covid Zero strategy has helped keep the second-largest economy largely virus-free for much of the pandemic.

https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/china-shuts-shanghai-schools-looks-to-divert-flights-as-covid-returns-122031200041_1.html