China records more local Covid cases this year than in whole of 2021

Mainland China reported 1,337 new domestically transmitted Covid cases with confirmed symptoms on March 13. That brought the total this year to more than 9,000, compared with 8,378 in 2021.

China has reported more local symptomatic Covid-19 cases so far this year than it recorded in all of 2021, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant triggers outbreaks from Shanghai to Shenzhen.