China ends 2021 with worst Covid week since taming original epidemic

China reported 1,151 new local Covid-19 cases in the past week. The latest outbreak is driven by infections in the city of Xian.

China ended its final week of 2021 with its biggest tally of local coronavirus cases for any seven-day period since subduing the country's first epidemic nearly two years ago, despite an arsenal of some of the world's toughest COVID-19 measures.

The National Health Commission reported on Saturday 175 new community infections with confirmed clinical symptoms for Dec. 31, bringing the total number of local symptomatic cases in mainland China in the past week to 1,151.