COVID-19 infections in China reach peak since late April

SHANGHAI

China reported on Saturday its largest tally of new COVID-19 infections since late April, a day after Beijing unveiled a spate of measures, including shorter quarantines, to ease the impact of its heavy-handed zero-COVID policy.

The stringent measures had proved a drag on the world's second-largest economy, disrupting industrial activity and frustrating residents with lockdowns, quarantines, frequent testing and travel interruptions.

The National Health Commission reported 11,950 new COVID-19 infections for the previous day, of which 1,504 were symptomatic and 10,446 were asymptomatic. That compares with 10,729 new cases a day earlier ¬ 1,209 symptomatic and 9,520 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately.

Investors were heartened by Friday's eased curbs, among them shorter quarantine for inbound travellers and those in close contact with infected people.

These were cut by two days to a total of eight, with the first five spent in a centralised facility.

China will also stop trying to identify "secondary" contacts, a practice that swept up many urban residents in contact-tracing efforts after a case was found, while still identifying close contacts.

But banking firm Goldman Sachs said it continued to see downside risks to near-term economic growth as several big cities report rising case numbers.