China placed all 17 million residents in one of its biggest cities under lockdown on Sunday, as virus cases doubled nationwide to nearly 3 400 and anxiety mounted over the resilience of its 'zero-Covid' approach.
The latest lockdown will last until 20 March.
"If prevention and control is not strengthened in a timely and decisive manner, it could easily become large-scale community transmission," Shenzhen health official Lin Hancheng said at a Sunday briefing. Shanghai has so far been spared a citywide order to stay at home, but individual housing compounds were being locked down as the megacity ramped up efforts to contain infections and test suspected close contacts.
The mayor of Jilin and the head of the Changchun health commission were dismissed from their jobs Saturday, state media reported, in a sign of the pressure placed on local authorities to contain virus clusters.But the strain is showing, with officials increasingly urging softer and more targeted measures to contain the virus, while economists warn tough clampdowns are hurting the economy.
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