China daily local Covid cases hit two-year high of over 1,500

Mainland China reported more than 1,500 new local COVID-19 infections on Saturday, the most since the first nationwide outbreak in early 2020, as the Omicron variant prompted Beijing to introduce self-testing kits for the first time.

China's current case count is far fewer than those of many other countries, but the growing number could complicate Beijing's "dynamic-clearance" ambition to suppress contagion as quickly as possible.

The National Health Commission on Saturday said it had found 476 locally transmitted cases for Friday, including five people initially classified as asymptomatic who developed symptoms later.

There were 1,048 domestically transmitted asymptomatic infections, which China does not