China continues 'severe and complex' fight against COVID-19

China continues to battle its worst COVID-19 outbreak, driven by the omicron variant, with health officials calling the situation “severe and complex.”

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- China continues to battle its worst COVID-19 outbreak, driven by the omicron variant, with health officials on Friday calling the situation “severe and complex."

The country has counted more than 56,000 cases since March 1, according to national health officials, who gave a press briefing Friday. More than half of those cases have been recorded in northeastern Jilin province and include asymptomatic cases as well. The numbers do not include Hong Kong, which tracks its COVID-19 data separately.

China continues striving to "achieve dynamic zero-COVID in the short term, as it is still the most economical and most effective prevention strategy against COVID-19," said Wu Zunyou, an infectious disease expert at China's Center for Disease Control.

“Only by doing dynamic zero-COVID can we eliminate the hidden dangers of the epidemic, avoid the run on medical resources that may be caused by large-scale infections and prevent a large number of possible deaths of the elderly or those with underlying diseases,” Wu added.