China Cases Rise By Most Since Wuhan Outbreak

China reported its highest daily tally of coronavirus infections since the Wuhan outbreak at the start of the pandemic, as the highly transmissible omicron variant sparks multiple clusters across the country.

Hong Kong added 31,008 Covid cases and 153 deaths Sunday. Although reported infection counts were less than 40,000 for the second straight day, after rising to more than 50,000 in the three days prior, officials said the decline could be due to unreported rapid testing results and because of the “weekend effect.”

The global death toll from Covid-19 neared 6 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.

Key Developments:

Virus Tracker: Cases exceed 445.8 million; deaths top 5.9 million

Vaccine Tracker: More than 10.8 billion doses administered

Hong Kong Mortuaries Bring in Mobile Fridges as Deaths Surge

Two Ways to Escape China’s Zero Covid Trap: Raphael and Fazeli

Bankers Are Abandoning Hong Kong as Beijing, Covid Remake City

Coronavirus Daily: Vaccines held up for kids amid omicron

Bloomberg Opinion’s Matthew Brooker: Hong Kong’s distress signals are rising

China Adds Most Cases Since Wuhan Outbreak (9:32 a.m. HK)

China reported its highest daily tally of coronavirus infections since the Wuhan outbreak at the start of the pandemic, as the highly transmissible omicron variant sparks multiple clusters across the country.

The nation announced 214 domestic confirmed cases — defined as people who are symptomatic — and 312 asymptomatic infections on Monday. The 526 total for a single day is a level that hasn’t been seen in two years and poses a significant challenge to the country’s steadfast adherence to a Covid Zero strategy.

The Covid Zero policy has increasingly isolated the world’s most populous country from the rest of the world as western nations pivoted to living with the virus and gradually opening up.

Managers Expect Cut in Flexible Work (8:01 a.m. HK)

More than half of U.K. managers expect to dial back their pandemic-era embrace of remote work and flexible arrangements once Covid-19 recedes, dampening hopes among employees that many of the changes will endure.

Some 34% managers and HR professionals believe that remote working initiatives will be rolled back after the pandemic, a survey of more than 750 people showed, even though 66% support current policies.

Global Death Toll Nears 6 Million (5 p.m. NY)

A count of worldwide deaths from Covid-19 is nearing 6 million, though the actual number is much higher and unknowable as infections concentrate in Asian nations less affected by earlier viral waves. Total global deaths recorded were at 5,998,428, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.

Each of the last million deaths has been punctuated by coronavirus variants — first delta, then omicron.

US Trucker Convoy Circles D.C. (4:44 p.m. NY)

A group of truckers calling themselves the Freedom Convoy made two noisy laps around the Washington Beltway, a highway that circles the city, to protest vaccination mandates and restrictions adopted to battle the pandemic.

The trucks, many of them festooned with American flags, honked their horns whenever they saw supporters waving at them from overpasses or other vehicles. Rigs in the convoy made most of the journey traveling in the middle lane and slightly under the posted speed limit, according to a report from radio station WTOP. It took between 30 and 35 minutes for it to pass.

The People’s Convoy describes itself as law abiding citizens, according to its website. They call for an end to the state of emergency that’s led to the imposition of vaccine mandates by some governments and want congressional hearings to examine the response to the pandemic.

After circuiting the highway twice — a journey that’s a little less than 130 miles — most of the trucks headed back north to Hagerstown, Maryland, where they originally assembled Friday. It’s not clear what their next move is, though they have stated they have no intention to attempt to shut down Washington in the same way Canadian truckers blockaded Ottawa for three weeks in February.

Covid Reality Arrives for New Zealand (12 a.m. HK)

After keeping the virus at bay for so long, Covid-19 is now tearing through the nation’s population courtesy of the highly infectious omicron variant. In the space of two weeks, new case numbers exploded from less than 1,000 a day to more than 22,000.

Two years after the pandemic began, New Zealanders are finally facing its reality.

Hong Kong Seeks Help of Private Hospitals (6 p.m. HK)

Hong Kong authorities are liaising with private hospitals to make space for Covid patients as the city battles its worst wave yet of the virus. The government is sending more government hospital patients who are being treated for ailments other than Covid-19 to private facilities if they are in a stable condition and in recovery, to free up beds in the public system, health officials said at a press briefing Sunday.

“We will continue to be in touch with private hospitals to reduce pressure on public hospitals,” said Larry Lee, chief manager of the Hospital Authority.

The city’s health system and morgues are under the pressure from a record outbreak that’s pushed its death rate to one of the highest in the world.