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On Mar. 12, the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China reported 3,393 new Covid-19 cases comprising 1,938 confirmed infections and 1,455 asymptomatic cases.

This number is almost twice the previous day's total, which was 1,761 — the most since the first nationwide outbreak in 2020, according to Reuters.

China does not classify asymptomatic infections as confirmed cases, according to SCMP.

Most cases came from Jilin province

Most of the new cases came from the Jilin province where 1,412 symptomatic cases and 744 asymptomatic cases were detected.

An official announced on Mar. 13 that a partial lockdown has been imposed on the city of Jilin, CNA reported.

A Jilin provincial health commission official, Zhang Yan, conceded that local authorities' response to the virus so far had been lacking.

He noted that the emergency response mechanism in some areas is not robust enough with insufficient understanding of the Omicron variant.

According to local officials, Jilin residents have completed six rounds of mass testing with 500 cases of the Omicron variant reported on Mar. 13.

There is also lockdowns of smaller cities in the Jilin province, Siping and Dunhua, on Thursday and Friday.

In addition, state media reported that the mayor of Jilin and the head of Changchun health commission were dismissed from their positions.

"Zero-Covid" strategy

Since the virus was first detected in late 2019, China has continued to pursue a "zero-Covid" strategy, with strict border restrictions, targeted lockdowns, and lengthy quarantine periods.

The recent spike in cases has prompted authorities to close schools in Shanghai and introduce rapid antigen tests.

While the kits are available for citizens to buy for self-testing, nucleic acid tests remain the main method of testing, the health commission said.

The most recent major lockdown in China occurred in Xi'an city in December for two weeks due to an outbreak.

Fears of a potential lockdown have also driven Hongkongers to panic buy and hoard supplies recently.

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Top image via 参考消息 on Weibo.