SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China recorded 3,200 daily local COVID-19 cases for Nov. 2, the highest in two and a half months, of which 531 were symptomatic and 2,669 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Thursday.
It was the first time local daily cases have exceeded 3,000 since Aug. 17.
China is striving to control a sudden COVID outbreak as quickly as possible, the health commission said on Wednesday in its first comments since the 20th Communist Party Congress, as cases rise across major cities.
China should unwaveringly stick to its “dynamic zero-COVID” policy, the commission said. China has repeatedly said it would not waver from its policy on COVID even as mass lockdowns and curbs hurt the economy.
Services activity contracted again in October, as COVID containment measures hit businesses and consumption, overshadowing an economic rebound in the last quarter, a private-sector business survey showed on Thursday.
The Caixin services purchasing managers’ index fell to 48.4 last month, the lowest since May, from 49.3 in September.
The capital Beijing reported 28 symptomatic and three asymptomatic local cases on Wednesday, compared with 28 symptomatic and four asymptomatic cases the previous day, local government data showed.
Financial hub Shanghai reported one symptomatic and two asymptomatic cases on Wednesday, compared with one symptomatic and no asymptomatic cases a day before, the local health authority reported.
The southern technology hub of Shenzhen reported 11 new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections, versus 23 the day before.
Guangzhou, also in the south, reported 50 new locally transmitted symptomatic and 323 asymptomatic cases, compared with 73 symptomatic and 253 asymptomatic cases a day before, authorities in the city of nearly 19 million people said.
(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by William Mallard)
