China's new Covid-19 cases more than doubled from the previous day on Tuesday, as the country faced its worst epidemic since the pandemic's early days.

According to the National Health Commission, 3507 new locally distributed cases were identified in the most recent 24-hour period, up from 1337 the previous day.

A fast-spreading version dubbed "stealth Omicron" is putting China's zero-tolerance policy to the test, which has kept the virus at bay since the original deadly outbreak in early 2020 in the city of Wuhan. While the numbers are small compared to other parts of the world, China's more than 10,000 cases in the first two weeks of March greatly exceed past outbreaks.

There have been no fresh deaths recorded in China's various outbreaks. Most