China battles multiple outbreaks, driven by stealth omicron

By HUIZHONG WU
Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The “stealth omicron” variant is fueling China’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak in two years, with 1,337 local cases tallied across the mainland. The majority were in far northeastern Jilin province, which banned most people from leaving the province and mobilized military reservists to help keep order and get residents tested. In Shanghai, authorities are locking down individual buildings rather than the whole city, but cases are rising. Numbers in mainland China are still low relative to Europe, the U.S., or even the city of Hong Kong. But China had seen very few infections since its strict Wuhan lockdown two years ago. The government is maintaining its zero-tolerance strategy to stop the virus quickly with lockdowns and quarantines.