At least 18 provinces in China have sounded alarm about COVID-19 as more than 300 domestic cases were detected in 10 days, posing great challenges to the country as it deals with the worst epidemic in months.
A highly contagious Delta variant strain's new outbreak in the Nanjing city, located in East China's Jiangsu province, is likely to spread to more regions in the short term, He Qinghua, a senior official with the National Health Commission, said at a press conference on Saturday. This wave of the outbreak, which was first detected at Nanjing Lukou International Airport, took place when tourists gathered at popular scenic spots.
"Due to the above three characteristics, the Nanjing outbreak has spread to other regions within and outside Jiangsu province. There is a risk that it will continue to spread to more regions," said Qinghua.
A total of 262 infections have been reported till Friday (July 31) since the first confirmed case was reported on July 20. An accumulative total of 328 locally transmitted cases were reported in July alone in China, as per the National Health Commission data. Zhangjiajie in Central China's Hunan province also became another significant point of COVID-19 resurgence.
Qinghua noted the Delta variant is still a form of coronavirus whose transmission source is clear and also highlighted that China successfully mitigated more than 30 outbreaks in areas like South China's Guangdong province and Northeast China's Liaoning province.
