COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China

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COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China
Rolling average of confirmed COVID-19 cases per day in mainland China
Disease	COVID-19
Virus strain	SARS-CoV-2
Location	Mainland China
First outbreak	Wuhan, Hubei[1]
Index case	1 December 2019 (4 years, 4 months, 2 weeks and 4 days ago)
Confirmed cases	99,347,448[2] 503,302 (symptomatic)
Suspected cases‡	1.1 billion+ (CCDC estimate in January 2022)[3]
Recovered	379,053[4]
Deaths	122,121[2]
Vaccinations	1,310,292,000[2] (total vaccinated) 1,276,760,000[2] (fully vaccinated) 3,491,077,000[2] (doses administered)
‡Suspected cases have not been confirmed by laboratory tests as being due to this strain, although some other strains may have been ruled out.

History of the People's Republic of China
1949–1976
Mao era Revolution Proclamation Korean War Land Reform Movement Zhen Fan Three-anti and Five-anti Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Bandung Conference Sufan Hundred Flowers Anti-Rightist Two Bombs, One Satellite Great Leap Forward (Great Chinese Famine) Seven Thousand Cadres Conference Socialist Education Movement Third Front Cultural Revolution Restoring legitimate seat in the UN 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China
1976–1989
Transition and Deng era Arrest of the Gang of Four Boluan Fanzheng 1978 Truth Criterion Controversy Message to Compatriots in Taiwan [zh] Reforms and Opening-up Establishment of China-US Relations (Three Communiques) Four Modernizations Sino-Vietnamese War Beijing Spring Strike Hard Anti-crime Campaign Sino-British Joint Declaration Campaign against spiritual pollution Bourgeois liberalization Anti-bourgeois liberalization 863 Program 1986 Chinese student demonstrations Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration Revolutions of 1989 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
1989–2002
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2002–2012
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2012–present
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The COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). China was where the first COVID outbreak occurred, the first where authorities imposed drastic measures in response (including lockdowns and face mask mandates), and was one of the first countries to bring the outbreak under control, at least temporarily.

The 2019–2020 COVID-19 outbreak in mainland China was the first wave of the disease, and was first manifested as a cluster of mysterious pneumonia cases, mostly related to the Huanan Seafood Market, in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province. It was first reported to the local government on 27 December 2019 and published on 31 December. On 8 January 2020, a new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was identified as the cause of the pneumonia by Chinese scientists.^[5] By 29 January, the virus was found to have spread to all provinces of mainland China.^[6][7][8]

By late February, the pandemic had been brought under control in most Chinese provinces. On 25 February, the reported number of newly confirmed cases outside mainland China exceeded those reported from within for the first time.^[9] By mid-2020, widespread community transmission in China had been ended, and restrictions were significantly eased.^[10]

Until late 2022, the Chinese government response included a zero-COVID strategy, which aims to eliminate transmission of the virus within the country and allow resumption of normal economic and social activity, making it one of few countries to pursue this approach.^[11] By late 2020, China's economy continued to broaden recovery from the recession during the pandemic, with stable job creation and record international trade growth, although retail consumption was still slower than predicted.^[12][13]

Infection rates increased in 2022, and on 3 April of that year, China reported 13,146 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, which was the highest single-day total of new cases since the height of the 2020 outbreak.^[14] Following nationwide protests in November and December of that year, the Chinese government relaxed many of its previous restrictions, effectively ending the zero-COVID policy and leading to a massive surge in cases.^[15]