China reports over 600 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, marking highest tally in July

Beijing [China], July 17 : The Chinese mainland on Sunday reported around 600 new cases of COVID-19, marking the number as the highest daily tally in the month of July, as per the National Health Commission.
Over the past three days, the daily tally in the Chinese mainland has surpassed 400. As per the official data on Sunday, 106 new cases with 474 asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 were found in different provinces of the country on Saturday. The daily new cases are the highest reported in July 2022.
The new wave of COVID-19 cases has been triggered by new emerging Omicron sub-variants, with nine such sub-variants all classified as forms of Omicron reportedly having been spreading among 12 regions since July, Global Times reported.
As per the data, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region reported nine confirmed and 235 asymptomatic cases, while Northwest China's Gansu Province reported 53 confirmed and 105 asymptomatic cases. Shanghai, which recently emerged from a severe outbreak, is also seeing rising cases, with 26 local cases including 24 asymptomatic cases reported on Sunday.
In Guangxi, Beihai city has been hardest hit by Omicron, recording 241 daily positive cases. Driven by Omicron BA.2.3, cases in Beihai have surged, with a total of nine confirmed and 444 asymptomatic cases reported within six days since the first case was discovered on July 12, Global Times reported.
The provincial capital of Gansu, Lanzhou reported the most cases in the province, with 53 confirmed cases and 68 asymptomatic cases being recorded in a single day, lifting the total to 164 confirmed and 315 asymptomatic cases as of Sunday morning.
Chinese health authorities said that the locally-transmitted cases circulated in Gansu were identified as BA.2.38. The virulent strain has strong transmissibility and concealment, which is not conducive to early detection.
The city started its sixth round of mass testing on Saturday. At least three districts, Baoshan, Pudong New Area, and Xuhui have started mass testing.
Recently, China enforced a lockdown in Xian, home to 13 million people after the city reported the first cases of a new Omicron subvariant. The lockdown was implemented after Xian reported 18 COVID-19 infections from Saturday to Monday, all of which are of the Omicron BA.5.2 subvariant, according to local disease control officials.
BA.5.2 is a sub-lineage of BA.5, which is already dominant in the US and appears to escape antibody responses among both people previously infected with COVID-19 and those who have been fully vaccinated and boosted, according to researchers.
It is the first time the subvariant has been reported in China, one of the last places in the world still adhering to a stringent zero-Covid policy.
Due to the latest outbreak in Beijing, millions of people are facing mandatory testing and thousands are under targeted lockdowns, just days after the city started to lift widespread curbs that had run for more than a month to tackle a broader outbreak since late April.
China has incurred severe effects on the livelihoods of its inhabitants in the first half of 2022 as a result of rigorous lockdowns and demanding testing procedures in different parts of the nation.
The economic impact of the zero-COVID strategy has also dented income. Fiscal revenue fell 4.8 per cent on the year for the four months through April, according to the Finance Ministry, owing mainly to tax refunds aimed at supporting businesses.