Mainland Covid cases continue to climb
The Chinese mainland reported 32,695 new local cases of Covid-19 for Thursday, another new record high, of which 3,041 were symptomatic and 29,654 were asymptomatic, up from 31,444 total cases a day earlier. There were no deaths, compared with one the previous day, keeping fatalities at 5,232. As of November 24, mainland China had confirmed 300,619 cases with symptoms. Authorities have meanwhile ordered six million people into lockdown in a city where protests broke out at an iPhone factory over Covid isolation policies and working conditions.  Hundreds of workers took to the streets around the vast iPhone factory in Zhengzhou on Wednesday, confronting hazmat-clad personnel wielding batons.  In the wake of the unrest, Zhengzhou authorities ordered mass testing and an effective lockdown for several districts in the central Chinese city starting on Friday. Big outbreaks of coronavirus are numerous and far-flung, with the southern city of Guangzhou and southwestern Chongqing recording the bulk, although hundreds of new infections have been reported daily in cities such as Chengdu, Jinan, Lanzhou, Xian and Wuhan. Cases quadrupled in Shijiazhuang to 3,197 on Thursday from the previous day. Infections in the capital also continued to climb. Local government data shows Beijing had 1,860 cases, up from 1,648 on Wednesday. New local infections in Shanghai rose from 67 to 86. But the daily Covid tally in Guangzhou and Chongqing both fell slightly, to 7,524 and 6,500, respectively, on Thursday.  (Reuters/AFP)