On Thursday, mainland China reported 402 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases with verified symptoms for March 9, nearly double the daily incidence from the day before.

According to the National Health Commission, 165 of the new local symptomatic illnesses occurred in the northeastern province of Jilin. This is the province’s highest daily figure since China’s first nationwide epidemic was suppressed in early 2020.

The number of new domestically transmitted asymptomatic cases, which China does not identify as confirmed cases, hit a two-year high of 435.

Nonetheless, by global measures, China’s caseload is insignificant. The government is adhering to its “dynamic-clearing” strategy, in which local authorities race to identify and isolate every infection and its close connections as rapidly as possible, with varied degrees of restrictions imposed to prevent transmission.

Business operations in Jilin’s urban areas have been ordered to halt for a week, with exceptions made for those responsible for providing essential services and businesses that require continuous production. Jilin is the hardest hit area in the province’s latest flare-up, which is battling an outbreak where a sub-strain of Omicron has been discovered.

According to the local authority, people are not permitted to leave their houses in general from March 7 to 13, save for emergency situations such as seeking medical help. Every day, one member from each home will be permitted to go shopping for needs.

According to two students at Jilin Agricultural Science and Technology University, several sick university students and close contacts of infected persons stayed on campus hours after they were previously advised that they would be transported to other areas for quarantine.

“They instructed us to report downstairs at 8 a.m. today to be relocated.” In the afternoon, a student who came into close touch with those afflicted told Reuters, “(We) haven’t gone yet.”

“I’m going to stay at a school stadium.” “Everyone around me is infected, and many of them are coughing,” another youngster who tested positive stated.

The sick student, who did not want to be identified, added that those who tested positive originally stayed in the same dormitory building as those who did not, rather than being quarantined in separate rooms or promptly transported to different buildings.

On Weibo, a Twitter-like site, complaints of university students sobbing and not getting aid were circulating. The postings were not immediately verified by Reuters.

Later on Thursday, state media claimed that buses had come at the institution to pick up students who had been in intimate touch with affected people.

There were no additional deaths on March 9, bringing the total death toll to 4,636.

As of March 9, mainland China had recorded 112,385 cases with confirmed symptoms, including both local and international cases.