Beijing Sees Record Covid Cases as China Outbreak Spirals

China is battling a spiraling nationwide Covid outbreak Noel CELIS AFP/File
China is battling a spiraling nationwide Covid outbreak Noel CELIS AFP/File
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Beijing Sees Record Covid Cases as China Outbreak Spirals

China is battling a spiraling nationwide Covid outbreak Noel CELIS AFP/File
China is battling a spiraling nationwide Covid outbreak Noel CELIS AFP/File

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, said AFP.

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 spiraling 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 travelers 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 "optimization" 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 epicenter Guangzhou also locked down the same day.

The limited relaxation has not marked a reversal of zero-Covid, which has left China internationally isolated, wreaked havoc on the economy, and sparked protests in a country where dissent is routinely crushed.



Ukrainian Forces Knock out North Korean Self-Propelled Howitzer, Military Says 

A handout picture made available 09 February 2025 by the press service of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces, shows servicemen of the 24th Mechanized Brigade named after King Danylo, preparing to fire 2S1 self-propelled 122mm howitzer towards Russian positions, near Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, 07 February 2025 amid the Russian invasion. (EPA/Press service of the 24 Mechanized Brigade Handout) 
A handout picture made available 09 February 2025 by the press service of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces, shows servicemen of the 24th Mechanized Brigade named after King Danylo, preparing to fire 2S1 self-propelled 122mm howitzer towards Russian positions, near Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, 07 February 2025 amid the Russian invasion. (EPA/Press service of the 24 Mechanized Brigade Handout) 
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Ukrainian Forces Knock out North Korean Self-Propelled Howitzer, Military Says 

A handout picture made available 09 February 2025 by the press service of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces, shows servicemen of the 24th Mechanized Brigade named after King Danylo, preparing to fire 2S1 self-propelled 122mm howitzer towards Russian positions, near Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, 07 February 2025 amid the Russian invasion. (EPA/Press service of the 24 Mechanized Brigade Handout) 
A handout picture made available 09 February 2025 by the press service of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces, shows servicemen of the 24th Mechanized Brigade named after King Danylo, preparing to fire 2S1 self-propelled 122mm howitzer towards Russian positions, near Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, 07 February 2025 amid the Russian invasion. (EPA/Press service of the 24 Mechanized Brigade Handout) 

Ukrainian forces have struck and knocked out a North Korean self-propelled howitzer on the eastern front of the nearly three-year-old war with Russia, Ukraine's military said on Tuesday.

A statement by the Khortytsia, or East, group of forces said it was the first time since the start of the conflict that a North Korean М-1978 Koksan howitzer had been hit by a Ukrainian drone.

"In Luhansk region, fighters of the 412th separate regiment of Nemesis drones struck a very rare M-1978 North Korean self-propelled artillery vehicle with a gun caliber of 170 mm," the statement posted on Telegram said.

The post was accompanied by a video showing a military target being blown up, and said the Koksan had first been observed in the war in October 2024. Reuters could not independently confirm the report.

North Korea's military aid to Russia has included about 200 long-range artillery pieces and a significant amount of ammunition, South Korea's defense ministry told a parliament committee last week.

Luhansk region, mostly occupied by Russian forces, is one of four that Russia formally annexed in 2022, moves that Ukraine and its allies have not recognized.

Ukraine and Western military experts say up to 12,000 North Korean troops were deployed in southern Russia's Kursk region alongside Russian forces and have also reported military equipment from Pyongyang being used.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week that Russia could send up to 3,000 more North Korean troops to Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces hold a chunk of territory more than six months after launching a cross-border incursion.

North Korean security agents are monitoring and controlling their country's troops in Kursk, telling them that the South Korean military are flying the drones attacking them, according to an interview with two North Korean prisoners of war captured in Ukraine reported by South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilboon on Wednesday.