DRASTIC RISE

Beijing Hit With COVID Outbreak as China Rolls Back Restrictions

The massive surge in cases comes on the heels of the country easing restrictions after protests.

Beijing has been hit with a massive COVID outbreak for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic just a week after the country loosened its strict “zero-COVID” restrictions. China’s National Health Commission announced Wednesday that it would no longer include asymptomatic cases in test counts as it grapples with a drastic rise in cases. “It is impossible to accurately grasp the actual number of asymptomatic infections,” the commission said in a statement. The city’s major hospitals saw 19,000 patients with flu symptoms between Dec. 5 and Dec. 11, a rise of more than six times the previous week, a health official said Monday.