Mainland China is reporting record COVID-19 cases, including nearly 40,000 Sunday, nearly three years after the virus originated with world far now below the highest levels since the pandemic.

After the outbreak, the nation largely controlled the virus with a “zero tolerance” policy with restrictions, including quarantines.

Amid the spike, protests have erupted throughout the nation of 1.5 billion people, which 19% of the world’s poulation.

Globally in the past week, infections decreased 3% to 2,664,541, or 380,649 daily, for a cumulative 646,070,196, according to Worldometers.info. Deaths decreased 19% to 8,016, or 1,145, the lowest since 1,075 March 21, 2020, 10 days after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

The cumulative is 6,636,146 so far Sunday.

On Saturday, 519 deaths and 318,300 cases were reported.

Some nations do not report data on weekends. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has gone to weekly updates.

The records were 3,847,002 cases on Jan. 21, during the height of the Omicron subvariant, and 16,885 deaths on Jan. 21, 2021, when the Delta subvariant was at its peak.

On Sunday, China reported 39,791 cases, breaking the record for the fourth day in the row after 31,444 Thursday, 32,943 Friday and 35,183 Saturday. Thursday’s total was the most since the virus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

Last Sunday, the total was 24,215.

On that date China reported its first death from COVID-19, the first in six months.

Source– UPI