By Spy Uganda Correspondent
Health experts said the rate of increase in daily cases over the next few weeks would be a crucial factor in determining whether its past management of COVID-19 was effective with more transmissible strains.
A COVID-19 forecasting system run by Lanzhou University in China’s north-west predicted that the latest outbreak would eventually be brought under control in early April.
The university estimates the current outbreak will see a total of about 35,000 cases.
In its latest assessment published on Monday, the university said while the current outbreak was the most serious on the mainland since Wuhan in 2020, China was capable of bringing it under control — as long as stringent curbs remained in place.
As of March 14, mainland China had reported 120,504 cases with confirmed symptoms, including both local ones and those arriving from outside the mainland.
Authorities in the Jilin province have been using drones to disinfect a building that has been locked down due to COVID-19 cases.
In the north-eastern province of Jilin, where nearly 90 per cent of the confirmed symptomatic cases were found, its population of 24.1 million have been banned from leaving the province and travelling within it without first notifying local police.
In a local Communist Party authority-backed paper, the Party’s provincial head said officials in Jilin should prepare more temporary hospitals and use venues to ensure all cases and their close contacts are isolated to prevent further transmission.
Smaller outbreaks have hit more than a dozen provinces and major cities including Beijing, which has six new cases, and Shanghai which reported nine.
Shenzhen, which is located in the Guandong province in the country’s south-east, has recorded 48 new cases.
The city of 17.5 million people was placed into lockdown on Sunday after 75 new cases were recorded.
Everyone in Shenzhen is required to be tested three times and all businesses, except those that supply food, fuel and other necessities, were ordered to close, or work from home on Monday.
Shenzhen is home to several prominent Chinese companies, including telecommunications equipment maker Huawei and Tencent Holding, the operator of the WeChat message service.
