China’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak escalated, and the country witnessed a higher infected case on Wednesday.
Due to higher COVID-19 cases, the country administered appropriate punishment to the city, local leaders. And they firmly sealed the city.
As last year, the flare-up of COVID-19 declined in the country. Citizens enjoyed a COVID-19-free city. The country strictly closed its borders and imposed firm social distance and quarantine regulations.
However, this year—now—the country sees a significant number of cases, amounting to a new COVID-19 flare-up. The source of the infected cases is the international airport of Nanjing, reports confirmed. This airport is connected to more than 17 provinces.
The ministry of health reported around 71 cases, who tested positive locally on Wednesday.
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The first-ever source of COVID-19, the city of Wuhan, in 2019, witnesses a high number of positive cases. Reports state that the cases are extremely similar to those reported in Jiangsu province.
Ministry of health cited that the deadly delta variant is the chief reason behind such high numbers. It is worth mentioning that the delta variant first appeared in India.
Jiangsu, Wuhan, and Nanjing are not the only provinces witnessing high numbers of COVID-19. Zhangjiajie joins the list of newly-discovered COVID-19 hotspots.
With 1.5 million population, the city imposed a sealing-off, firmly restricting the movement of the population—whether a tourist or a citizen. No one is allowed to leave the city.
Punishments
China is among a few countries that are firmly strict when it comes to slackness.
The Communist Party disciplinary committee conducted a list of local officials to be punished, said on Wednesday. It is reported that these officials “had a negative impact” on the prevention and control of the COVID-19 crisis.
Based on the Shanghai government-owned newspaper Paper, the city alone reported around 19 positive cases. Three of the cases had no symptoms whatsoever. On the other hand, cases reported in Zhangjiajie’s flare-up transmitted the virus to more than five other provinces.
The National Immigration Administration confirmed the suspension of passports issuance for the second time in a week, with exceptions to urgent needs.
China vaccination process
China has fully vaccinated 40% of its population, said the ministry of health on Wednesday. This week, the country distributed around 1.71 billion doses of vaccine to a number of 1.4 billion.
But there is no clear data on how many are for first or second doses.
The country’s officials later stated that their vaccines mitigate the severity of the virus and prevent hospitalization. However, the companies have not officially displayed data on the effectiveness of their vaccines on delta variants.