Major Chinese manufacturing province Zhejiang is fighting its first COVID-19 cluster this year, with tens of thousands of citizens in quarantine and virus-hit areas suspending business operations, cutting flights and cancelling events. The outbreak in three Zhejiang cities - Ningbo, Shaoxing and Hangzhou - was developing at a "relatively rapid" speed, while the situation nationwide was largely stable, National Health Commission official Wu Liangyou said on Saturday. Before the current outbreak, Zhejiang - home to a legion of small and medium-sized enterprises, many of which are exporters - reported only one local case in 2021. More than a dozen Chinese-listed companies said they had suspended production in parts of Zhejiang owing to tightened COVID-19 curbs.