China coronavirus outbreak spreads as WHO sounds alarm on Delta variant

China has raced to contain its worst coronavirus outbreak in months, as health officials blamed the Delta variant for a surge in infections.

Mushrooming outbreaks of the Delta variant prompted China to impose stricter Covid-19 curbs on Saturday, as the World Health Organisation urged nations to contain the mutation before it turns into something deadlier and draws out the pandemic.

China’s most serious surge of coronavirus infections in months has now spread to two more areas — Fujian province and the megacity of Chongqing — in an outbreak that now spans 14 provinces.

Health workers in Beijing after China reported virus outbreaks in three cities, including the capital. Picture: AFP

More than 200 cases have been linked to an original Delta cluster in Nanjing city where nine cleaners at an international airport tested positive.

“The main strain circulating at present is the Delta variant … which poses an even greater challenge to virus prevention and control work,” said Mi Feng, spokesman for China’s National Health Commission.

The nation where the disease first emerged has rushed to prevent the highly transmissible strain from taking root by putting more than one million people under lockdown and reinstituting mass testing campaigns.

China has reported virus outbreaks in three cities, including the capital Beijing, driven by the Delta variant. Picture: AFP

Worldwide, coronavirus infections are once again on the upswing, with the World Health Organisation announcing an 80 per cent average increase over the past four weeks in five of the health agency’s six regions, a jump largely fuelled by the Delta variant.

First detected in India, the strain has now reached 132 countries and territories.

China reported 328 symptomatic infections in July - almost equal to the total number of local cases from February to June.

The outbreak is geographically the largest to hit China in several months, challenging the country’s early success in snuffing out the pandemic within its borders after Covid-19 seeped out of Wuhan.

A medical staff member inside an isolation area at a temporary "Fire Eye" laboratory used for Covid-19 testing in Nanjing in China's eastern Jiangsu province. Picture: STR/AFP/China OUT

But that record has been thrown into jeopardy after the fast-spreading Delta variant broke out at Nanjing airport in eastern Jiangsu province earlier this month.

More than 260 infections nationwide have been linked to the cluster in Nanjing, where nine cabin cleaners at an international airport tested positive on July 20.

Hundreds of thousands have already been locked down in Jiangsu province, while Nanjing has tested all 9.2 million residents twice.

A staff member spraying disinfectant at a temporary "Fire Eye" laboratory used for coronavirus testing in Nanjing where Delta outbreaks are mushrooming. Picture: AFP / China OUT

The contagiousness of the Delta variant combined with the peak tourist season and high passenger circulation at the airport has led to the rapid spread of this outbreak, NHC official He Qinghua told reporters at the briefing.

Fresh cases reported Saturday in two more regions - Fujian province and the sprawling megacity of Chongqing - included one patient who visited the tourist city of Xi’an, Shaanxi province, and an international cargo crew member who recently travelled from abroad, authorities said.

Officials in one Chongqing district ordered emergency mass testing late Friday for people who had visited venues linked to confirmed cases.

A man receiving testing for coronavirus in eastern China's Jiangsu province, as China raced to contain its worst coronavirus outbreak in months. Picture: AFP

After one asymptomatic case was discovered in Zhengzhou - the epicentre of recent deadly floods in central Henan province - city officials on Saturday ordered mass testing of all 10 million residents. The head of the city health commission was also sacked.

The tourist city of Zhangjiajie in Hunan province, where the landscape inspired the “Avatar” blockbuster, locked down all 1.5 million residents and shut all tourist attractions Friday, according to an official notice.

Health officials said the virus was likely brought there via the Nanjing cluster, according to preliminary investigations.

Officials are now scrambling to track people nationwide who recently travelled from Nanjing or Zhangjiajie, and have urged tourists not to travel to areas where cases have been found.

After reports that some people sickened in the latest cluster were vaccinated, health officials said this was “normal” and stressed the importance of vaccination alongside strict measures.

A new factory built to produce the coronavirus vaccine at Sinovac, one of 11 Chinese companies approved to carry out clinical trials of potential coronavirus vaccines, in Beijing. Picture: AFP

“The Covid vaccine’s protection against the Delta variant may have somewhat declined, but the current vaccine still has a good preventative and protective effect against the Delta variant,” said Feng Zijian, virologist at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 1.6 billion vaccine doses have so far been administered nationwide, the NHC said. It does not provide figures on how many people have been fully vaccinated.

Health officials have said they are aiming for 80 percent of the population to be fully vaccinated by year-end.

Originally published as China coronavirus outbreak spreads as WHO sounds alarm on Delta variant