Chinese authorities are battling the country’s largest COVID-19 outbreak, which is being caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant. People from a northeastern city, where infections have grown faster than anywhere else in the country in the past week, are being barred from entering some areas.
In the week between October 17 and November 14, a total of 1,308 domestically transmitted diseases with proven symptoms were registered on the mainland, topping the 1,280 local cases reported during a summer Delta epidemic, according to estimates made by Reuters based on government data.
This is the most extensive Delta epidemic in China’s history, with cases reported across 21 provinces, regions, and towns. Although it is a lesser epidemic than many other outbreaks in other countries, officials in China are desperate to stop the spread of the virus in accordance with the government’s zero-tolerance policy.
After a complex set of controls, including rigorous contact tracing, multiple rounds of testing for people in high-risk areas, the closure of entertainment and cultural venues, and restrictions on tourism and public transportation, a dozen province-level regions were able to contain their flare-ups in a matter of weeks.
The northeastern city of Dalian, on the other hand, is embroiled in a battle with the virus, according to Wu Liangyou, an official with the National Health Commission, who spoke at a press conference on Saturday.
The city of 7.5 million people has detected an average of about 24 new local cases a day since the first local symptomatic patients from the latest outbreak were reported on Nov. 4. This is more than any other Chinese city, according to a Reuters calculation, since the outbreak’s first local symptomatic patients were reported on Nov. 4.
Dandong, Anshan, and Shenyang, three cities in close proximity to Dalian, have reported that persons coming from Dalian must be quarantined at centralised facilities for 14 days before being allowed to walk freely about the city.
The mainland Chinese government has recorded 98,315 confirmed coronavirus cases with symptoms as of Nov. 14, including both domestically transmitted viruses and those imported from other countries. There have been 4,636 fatalities thus far.
