Shanghai fears a second lockdown as China battles BA.5 outbreaks

The arrival of the BA.5 coronavirus variant in China is threatening economically damaging lockdowns across the country, including in Shanghai, where many residents only recently emerged from a grueling two months of confinement in their homes.

Over the weekend, the country’s most populous city confirmed that the increasingly dominant subvariant of omicron had arrived only weeks after officials declared victory against the coronavirus following a citywide lockdown.

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