China's public health governance is expected to come under acute pressure in the coming weeks as the biggest wave of COVID-19 cases since the 2020 Wuhan outbreak stretches medical resources, strains the economy and tests the country’s ability to contain infections.
In the past 10 weeks, China has reported more new local symptomatic cases — over 14,000 — than in all of 2021 amid the rapid spread of the omicron variant, fueling fears of hard lockdowns of cities and further economic instability.
Some parts of China are already feeling the crunch as they scramble to test local populations and quarantine the infected under China's strict COVID-19 playbook, despite relatively low caseloads by global standards.