China's capital Beijing posted a record number of new Covid cases on Tuesday, with the city hunkering down under a tightening chokehold of restrictions that have sent schools online, closed many restaurants and forced employees to work from home.
More than 28,000 new infections were reported nationwide -- nearing the record high since the pandemic began -- with Guangdong province and the city of Chongqing logging over 16,000 and 6,300 cases respectively, health authorities said.
New cases in Beijing have also jumped in recent days, more than doubling from 621 on Sunday to Tuesday's 1,438 -- a pandemic record for the city.
The last major economy still welded to a zero-tolerance Covid policy, China enforced snap lockdowns, mass testing and quarantines to control outbreaks to great success in the earlier stages of the pandemic.
But the latest spiralling outbreak is testing the limits of that playbook, with officials keen to avoid citywide lockdowns like Shanghai's two-month ordeal in April, which marred the finance hub's economy and international image.
Three elderly Beijing residents with underlying diseases died from Covid over the weekend, authorities said, marking China's first Covid deaths since May.
While the capital has so far avoided a blanket shutdown, there have been widely enforced snap lockdowns of individual buildings and long PCR testing queues due to the requirement for a 24-hour negative test for entry to most public spaces.
Over the weekend, authorities advised residents to stay and home and not travel between districts. And on Monday required travellers to the city to test more times after they arrive.
Many tourist attractions, gyms and parks have been closed, with large-scale events such as concerts cancelled.
China declared its most significant easing of coronavirus measures to date on November 11, billed as an "optimisation" to limit the economic and social impact of zero-Covid measures.
Among the steps was a reduction of compulsory quarantine times for international arrivals.
Multiple Chinese cities cancelled mass Covid testing last week but some later reinstated them, underlining the difficulty of controlling the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
Shijiazhuang, which had previously cancelled mass testing, began a partial lockdown Monday after cases surged, while several districts of southern epicentre Guangzhou also locked down the same day.
The limited relaxation has not marked a reversal of zero-Covid, which has left China internationally isolated, crushed the economy, and sparked protests in a country where dissent is routinely crushed.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Antony Blinken Raises Concern Over China's "Provocative" Actions Around Taiwan Lines Of Communication Through South China Sea Critical For Peace: S Jaishankar Blinken Meets Chinese Counterpart After Chiding Beijing's "Escalating" Actions At Sea Centre Fact-Checks Mamata Banerjee's Mic-Off Claim, She Hits Back At Olympics Opening Ceremony, Drag Parody Of 'The Last Supper' Draws Flak Children Of Indian-Americans Face Deportation As Time Runs Out Trump Vows To Hold Rallies With More Security Despite Assassination Attempt Fake Billing Scam Worth Thousands Of Crores Unearthed: Punjab Minister 'What Kind Of Democracy?' Court Raps Cops For Seeking Action On Professor Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.