China’s Covid-19 outbreak ‘most extensive’ since Wuhan

Shanghai, China, Jul 30 (EFE).- China’s latest Covid-19 outbreak is the “most extensive” since the one that emerged in Wuhan in 2019 and which is widely considered the trigger to the current worldwide pandemic, the state-run Global Times reported Friday.

Chinese authorities have detected 200 Covid-19 cases in the last 10 days and, unlike previous clusters which were quickly contained, the contagion has spread to five provinces and the Beijing region.

The current outbreak was first detected at the international airport in Nanjing, the capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province.

Wang Guangfa, a respiratory expert at Peking University First Hospital told the Global Times that the highly transmissible Delta variant was fueling the latest surge.

Shao Yiming, an immunologist from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, added that the Nanjing outbreak was caused by “imported cases.”

Shao said, however, that the “small” outbreak was detected early and that tough measures had been taken to curb contagion.

Most of the Covid-19 patients affected by the outbreak had been vaccinated and seven of the cases were admitted as critical, according to the newspaper.

Social media users have raised concerns about the efficacy of the vaccines used in China, which are all domestically produced.

Shao said the existing vaccines were effective against all coronavirus variants, although its efficiency against those variants could be lower.

Officials cited by the Global Times said flights at the Nanjing airport would be suspended until August 11. EFE