New Omicron subtype found in China as parents separated from children

China is going to extraordinary lengths to keep a lid on the steadily growing Covid outbreak in its largest city as official say they have detected a new subtype of the Omicron variant not previously seen.

Shanghai on Sunday ordered its 26 million residents to undergo two more rounds of tests, urging people to self test on Sunday before citywide testing was to be carried out on Monday.

Those who test positive, face a daunting quarantine with distraught parents saying they are being ripped away from their children.

Esther Zhao took her two-year-old daughter to hospital on March 26 with a fever, Reuters reported.

Three days later, Zhao was begging health authorities not to separate them after she and the little girl both tested positive for Covid. However both were sent to a quarantine centre where Zhao has had only one brief message that her daughter was fine, sent through a group chat with doctors.

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That's despite repeated pleas for information from Zhao and her husband, who is in a separate quarantine site after also testing positive.

"There have been no photos at all... I'm so anxious, I have no idea what situation my daughter is in," she told Reuters on Saturday through tears.

"The doctor said Shanghai rules is that children must be sent to designated points, adults to quarantine centres and you're not allowed to accompany the children."

Stories of how Shanghai separates Covid-positive children from their parents have gone viral in the country and triggered widespread public anger.

In a rare instance of grassroots lobbying, several residents reposted a statement on the WeChat and Weibo social media platforms saying they wanted asymptomatic or mild cases to be allowed to isolate at home, after reports of unsanitary and crowded conditions at quarantine facilities.

Anger rises as officials announce new Omicron subtype

Essentially all of China's financial capital is locked down after the city began curbing movement in its eastern districts last Monday, extending the restrictions to the entire city days later.

But anger appears to be growing among residents in the city, with public clashes and angry sentiment bubbling up on Chinese social media.

Shanghai's lockdown has massively disrupted daily life and businesses, even as healthcare staff and volunteers work round the clock trying to test the entire population and supply residents with food.

Meanwhile officials say they have detected a mutation of the Omicron variant not found in local or international databases, state media Global Times reported.

The new iteration of the virus, isolated from a mild patient in a city less than 70 kilometres from Shanghai, is thought to have evolved from the BA.1.1 branch of the Omicron variant, according to the government media.

Shanghai on Sunday reported 7,788 daily locally transmitted asymptomatic cases, up from 6,501 the day before, while symptomatic cases rose to 438 from 260.

The city accounted for the bulk of mainland China's 11,781 daily locally transmitted asymptomatic cases and nearly one-third of its 1,506 symptomatic cases.

he latest tally is the highest national Covid case count since the early days of the pandemic in February 2020, more than two years ago.

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