China is battling COVID-19 outbreaks in cities across the country, including Guangzhou and Chongqing, even as it tries to ease the impact of harsh containment measures that are a drag on the economy and are sparking frustration among people fed up with lockdowns, quarantines and other disruptions.

China reported on Sunday 24,435 new COVID-19 infections for Nov. 19, down slightly from 24,473 a day earlier but near highs clocked in April when Shanghai, the country's largest city, was in the midst of an outbreak resulting in a grinding two-month lockdown.

Authorities also said an 87-year-old Beijing man became the nation's first official COVID-19 fatality since May 26, raising China's coronavirus death toll to 5,227.

While official infection tallies are low by global standards, China tries to stamp out every infection chain under a zero-COVID-19 policy that makes it a global outlier nearly three years into the pandemic.

Many Beijing residents scrambled to stock up on food and some delivery services experienced delays after the city urged residents of the sprawling Chaoyang district, home to nearly 3.5 million people as well as embassies and office towers, to stay home during the weekend.

Parents at international schools in the district were told that classes would go online for the coming week: "As COVID-19 has spread in multiple places and with complex transmission chains, schools in Chaoyang district will be moving to online learning," one such notice said.

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