Covid-19 has returned to the central Chinese city where it first emerged, with two cases reported in Wuhan and a swelling outbreak in a neighboring province that’s already seen counties locked down.
Two port workers in Wuhan came down with asymptomatic Covid infections, authorities said Friday. They’re the first cases there in more than a month and come just days after President Xi Jinping’s symbolic visit to the city, where he reiterated China’s pursuit of a zero-tolerance pandemic policy that’s leaving the country isolated and subject to unpredictable restrictions.
Xi Warns Against ‘Herd Immunity,’ Vows to Stick With Covid Zero. Meanwhile, Anhui province to the east reported a significant increase in cases, to 107 on Friday from 14 a day ago, mostly in a small county of some 763,000 people that has already been locked down. The county will undergo a fourth round of mass testing to weed out infections, with positive cases and their close contacts sent to government quarantine, in line with China’s ongoing approach. Late Friday, the neighboring county of Lingbi — home to more than 1 million people — was also locked down.