Nanjing: New virus outbreak worst after Wuhan,
say Chinese state media
Published 3
hours ago
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-58021911
A Covid outbreak first discovered in the Chinese city
of Nanjing has spread to five provinces and Beijing, with state media calling
it the most extensive contagion after Wuhan.
Almost 200
people have been infected since the virus was first detected at the city's busy
airport on 20 July.
All flights
from Nanjing airport will be suspended until 11 August, according to local
media.
Officials
also began city-wide testing amid criticism for their "failure".
All 9.3
million of the city's residents - including those visiting - will be tested,
said state-controlled Xinhua news.
Posts on
social media show long lines of people queuing, and authorities have reportedly
urged people to wear masks, stand one metre apart and avoid talking while they
wait.
Officials said
the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus was behind the infections,
adding that cases had spread further because of how busy the airport is.
Ding Jie, a
health official in Nanjing, told reporters the cases were linked to cleaners
who worked on a flight from Russia that arrived in the city on 10 July.
The
cleaners did not follow strict hygiene measures, Xinhua News reported.
The airport
management has been rebuked, with a senior disciplinary body of the Communist
Party saying it had "problems such as lack of supervision and
unprofessional management".
Testing has
shown that the virus has now spread to at least 13 cities including Chengdu and
the capital Beijing.
However,
experts quoted by the Global Times said they believed the outbreak was still at
an early stage and could be controlled.
Local
officials in Nanjing said that seven of those infected were in critical
condition.
The new
spike in cases has led some on Chinese social media to speculate about whether
the Chinese vaccines were working against the Delta variant.
It is
unclear if those infected were vaccinated.
A number of
South East Asian countries relying on Chinese vaccines have recently announced
they will use other jabs.
China has
so far managed to keep the virus largely under control by closing borders and
moving quickly to stamp out local outbreaks.
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