China
on Sunday registered more than 13,000 new COVID-19 cases as the country
reported the presence of a new subtype of the omicron variant.

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The
new virus, isolated from a mild COVID-19 patient in a city less than 70
kilometres (43 miles) from Shanghai, evolves from the BA.1.1 branch of the
omicron variant, Global Times reported, citing sequencing data from local
health authorities. The report said the subtype does not match other coronavirus
variants that are causing COVID-19 in China nor those submitted to GISAID,
where scientists around the world share the coronavirus they sequenced as a way
to monitor mutations.

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A
case in Dalian city in northern China reported on Friday also did not match any
other coronavirus variants found domestically, the municipal government said on
its WeChat account. 

China
reported 12,000 cases on Saturday which were labelled asymptomatic.

The
country’s Vice Premier Sun Chunlan arrived in the country’s virus hotspot of
Shanghai to oversee prevention efforts, as she ordered officials to curtail the
outbreak “as soon as possible,” according to Xinhua. Cases in the
financial hub exceeded 8,000 on Saturday including 7,788 asymptomatic
infections. Shanghai will start a new round of mass testing on Monday,
authorities said.

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Sun,
who previously went to Jilin to oversee lockdown measures in the northeast
province, ordered Shanghai officials to “resolutely” conduct measures
to stop the outbreak. All of the metropolis’ 25 million residents are currently
under some form of quarantine.

In
the city of Sanya in Hainan province, authorities suspended all transportation
to stymie the spread of Covid, according to a post on an official WeChat
account.

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On
Sunday, the 1.5 million residents of Baicheng in northeast China joined the
ranks of tens of millions of other Chinese who have endured some form of
lockdown over the last month, disrupting work and damaging the economy.

China
registered 13,146 cases on Sunday. It is the country’s highest daily infection
tally since mid-February 2020.

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Around
70 % of the national caseload was found in Shanghai, the commission said, after
mass testing the metropolis’ 25 million residents.