China witnesses new Covid outbreak, reports over 400 cases daily
Beijing, July 20: China is experiencing an unprecedented Covid-19 outbreak, with more than 400 cases reported daily. On the Chinese mainland, more than 20 provincial-level regions have recorded locally transmitted Covid-19 cases, and daily caseloads have recently started to increase.
According to a Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expert, the new wave of outbreaks has seen the rise of more subvariants, including BA.2, BA.4 and BA and the fact that they are more transmissible and harder to find poses challenges for the country's COVID-19 control efforts, Global Times reported.
According to the National Health Commission, the nation recorded 108 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, including 47 in Gansu, 21 in Guangxi, and 20 in Guangdong province.
Provinces including Anhui, Guangxi, and Gansu have recently emerged as hotspots. Contrary to Sixian in Anhui, which experienced a jump in cases in early July, other small cities in Anhui, like Bengbu's Huaiyuan county, are currently dealing with an increase in cases.
Emerging subvariants of the Omicron virus are putting significant pressure on anti-virus efforts because they spread more quickly and are more difficult to detect, according to epidemiologists. These new waves are challenging the ability of more inland and small cities to cope, which are less well equipped than metropolises, the Global Times reported.
Also Read | NEET dress code controversy: Five arrested for 'forcing' girl students to remove innerwear
According to the CDC expert, compared with previous outbreaks since March, the latest outbreak exposed a new trend that is the infection has sneaked into inland and small cities.
"Compared with cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Jilin, which faced the severest onslaughts during the last round of outbreak, those that are seeing a surge this time are less equipped medically, and in a poorer condition to cope with the virus," he said.
Furthermore, a new subvariant of Omicron BA.2.12.1 has been found in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, said Chengdu's health authorities on Sunday, noting it is 1.2 times as transmissible as BA.2, and no homologous sequence was found in the Chinese mainland.
Just days after Beijing began to lift widespread curbs that had been in place for more than a month to address a larger outbreak since late April, the city is now subjecting millions of people to mandatory testing and placing thousands of people under targeted lockdowns due to the most recent outbreak.
Also Read | PM Modi to interact with Indian contingent for Commonwealth Games 2022
-PTC News
