China has recorded its highest number of daily Covid cases since the pandemic began, despite stringent measures designed to eliminate the virus.
Several major cities including the capital Beijing and southern trade hub Guangzhou are experiencing outbreaks.
Wednesday saw 31,527 cases recorded compared with an April peak of 28,000.
The numbers are still tiny for a country of 1.4 billion people and officially just over 5,200 have died since the pandemic began.
That equates to three Covid deaths in every million in China, compared with 3,000 per million in the US and 2,400 per million in the UK, although direct comparisons between countries are difficult.
