China in the grip of a new wave of Covid-19

New Delhi: Students in schools across several Beijing districts were shut, and online classes were substituted on Monday after officials called for residents in some of its hardest-hit areas to stay home.

Several businesses and restaurants remained shut for increased vigilance by the Chinese authorities to control the fresh wave of covid-19 in China.

Several neighbouring counties are keeping an eye on the development as they do not want to see a repeat of what happened in early 2020 where covid-19 infection through cargo or people travelling to their country.

COVID-19 cases in China's capital Beijing continue to flare up. Cities like Zhengzhou in central Henan province to Chongqing in the southwest reported 26,824 new local cases on Sunday. Two deaths were also reported.

Guangzhou, a southern city of nearly 19 million people battling the largest of China's recent outbreaks, ordered a five-day lockdown for its Baiyun district.

It also suspended dine-in services and shut nightclubs and theatres in Tianhe, home to the city's central business district.

Shijiazhuang announced it would conduct mass testing in six of its eight districts over the next five days after new daily local cases hit 641. It also encouraged residents to shop online and ordered some schools to suspend in-person teaching.

The capital Beijing reported 962 new infections, up from 621 a day earlier.

On Monday, the People's Daily newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, published another article reiterating the need to catch infections early but avoid taking a "one-size-fits-all" approach, its eighth such piece since China announced its 20 adjusted measures on November 11.

On Monday, the Chinese National Health Commission published more detailed guidance on how these measures would be applied to testing, delineating and managing risk areas, and home isolation practices.