TheCable

China has reported 13,146 new daily COVID-19 cases for April 2.

The figure is the highest total number recorded in a single day since the outbreak started over two years ago.

“There were 1,455 patients with symptoms …. 11,691 asymptomatic cases… and no new deaths reported,” the National Health Commission said.

On Saturday, Shanghai’s 25 million people were ordered to stay at home as officials sought to contain the disease’s spread. 

Shanghai is China’s financial capital and the epicentre of the country’s pandemic.

Shanghai, in particular, reported 438 local confirmed and 7,788 asymptomatic cases on Sunday.

Sun Chunlan, Chinese vice-premier, made an official visit to the city to help battle the virus.

According to a senior official from the Shanghai health authority, a city-wide antigen testing will be carried out on Sunday and mass nucleic acid testing on Monday.

“The main task is to completely eliminate risk points and cut off the chain of transmission so that we can curb the spread of the epidemic as soon as possible,” Wu Qianyu, an inspector from Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, said.

Jilin Province, another hard-hit region by the pandemic, has seen little improvement, with 4,455 cases reported on Sunday.

China, where the coronavirus was initially discovered in 2019, is one of the latest countries to follow a zero-COVID strategy to the pandemic.