E-Paper
China’s Nanjing with 9mn people sealed off as Delta variant of Covid spreads
Health authorities in Nanjing city say the genetic sequencing of the coronavirus from a new cluster turned out to be of the fast-spreading Delta variant of Covid-19
The city of Nanjing in eastern China has been virtually sealed off and residents advised to stay indoors after 31 new Covid-19 cases were reported on Tuesday in the past 24 hours, pushing the total number of coronavirus infections up to 112 in the ongoing outbreak.
Local health authorities said the genetic sequencing of the virus from the cluster turned out to be of the fast-spreading Delta variant.
Ding Jie from Nanjing Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said that judging from the previous related outbreaks, the Delta strain has some shown new characteristics. It has increased adaptability, can spread faster, has higher virus load, treatment time is longer, and it is easier to contract a severe form of the illness.
First detected among the city’s airport workers, the new outbreak has triggered two rounds of citywide nucleic acid testing of Nanjing’s nine million residents.
Health authorities are carrying out a second round of mass testing and placed tens of thousands of people under lockdown.
At least five Chinese provinces and nine cities have reported cases related to the Nanjing outbreak.
Following more than 30 cases on two consecutive days, the city, China’s former capital with over nine million residents, has pushed up epidemic risk levels, designating four areas as high-risk zones and 25 areas as medium-risk zones.
Nanjing has suspended movie theatres, gymnasiums, indoor swimming pools, bars, bathing venues, “mahjong” halls, chess and card rooms, and other public places.
Residents have been told to stay at home and to go out only if it’s essential, the authorities said on Tuesday.
Strict restrictions on the number of people entering at the same time have been put in place at pharmacies, wholesale markets, shopping malls and supermarkets.
Entrances of non-residents including delivery personnel have been restricted at all residential communities.
The city has suspended the operation of eight long-distance bus stations, as well as bus tour services, while the airport has been closed.
“Some 19 bus lines that had routes travelling to adjacent areas were limited within the city, and taxis are required not to leave the city,” a state media report said.
Meanwhile, more than 560 million Chinese citizens, or 40% of the population, received both doses of a two-shot Covid-19 vaccine by June 30, Gao Fu, director-general of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said on Tuesday.
“Now, we have started our mass inoculation programme for the latter half of the year,” Gao was quoted by official media as saying at a conference.
As of July 22, China had administered over 1.5 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines, according to the national health commission.
“To tackle new variants of the coronavirus, sharing Covid-19 vaccines should be a part of the solution so that all countries can have access to them and inoculate their population, allowing us to stem the global transmission of the disease,” Gao said, adding that if the world doesn’t adequately share vaccines, then the virus will continue to take hold globally.
As of June 12, China has supplied 500 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines and concentrates to more than 100 countries and international organisations, accounting for one sixth of the global output.
As of Monday, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in mainland China stood at 92,676, and the death toll was 4,636.
.
