China’s Covid-19 outbreak escalates

A resident undergoes a Covid-19 test in Yangzhou in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. Pic/AFP

China's worst Coronavirus outbreak since the start of the pandemic a year and a half ago escalated on Wednesday with dozens more cases around the country, the sealing-off of one city and the punishment of its local leaders.

Since that initial outbreak was tamed last year, China's people had lived virtually free of the virus, with extremely strict border controls and local distancing and quarantine measures stamping out scattered, small flare-ups when they occurred.

Now, the country is on high alert as an outbreak of cases connected to the international airport in the eastern city of Nanjing touched at least 17 provinces. China reported 71 new cases of Covid-19 from local transmission on Wednesday, more than half of them in coastal Jiangsu province, of which Nanjing is the capital.

In Wuhan, the central city where the first cases of Covid-19 were identified in late 2019, mass testing has shown some of its newly reported cases have a high degree of similarity to cases discovered in Jiangsu province. Those cases have been identified as being caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant that first was identified in India. Meanwhile, another Covid-19 hotspot was emerging in the city of Zhangjiajie, near a scenic area famous for sandstone cliffs, caves, forests and waterfalls that inspired the on-screen landscape in the Avatar films.

The city ordered residential communities sealed on Sunday, preventing people from leaving their homes. In a subsequent order on Tuesday, officials said no one, whether tourist or resident, could leave the city. The city government's Communist Party disciplinary committee issued a list of local officials who "had a negative impact" on pandemic prevention and control work who would be punished.

Also read: Rise in Covid-19 cases worrying, but premature to declare third wave: Scientists

Indonesia surpasses 1 lakh Covid deaths

A woman receives the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine in Denpasar, Indonesia. Pic/AFP

Indonesia surpassed 100,000 confirmed Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday, a grim milestone in a country struggling with its worst pandemic wave fuelled by the delta variant, amid concerns the actual figure could be much higher. It took 14 months for Indonesia to exceed the 50,000 death mark at the end of May, and just over nine weeks to double it. The Health Ministry recorded 1,747 new deaths of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 100,636. Those figures are believed to be an undercount.

New York makes vaccination proof must

New York City will require proof of Covid-19 vaccinations for guests at restaurants, shows and gyms, starting August 16 in a phased manner. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the new requirements on Tuesday, making New York the first big city in the US to draw these battle lines as the Covid-19 delta variant surges. People will have to show proof of at least one vaccine dose. "The goal here is to convince everyone that this is the time. If we're going to stop the delta variant, the time is now. And that means getting vaccinated right now," de Blasio said on Tuesday.

4,24,716
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

19,98,66,646
Total no. of cases worldwide

42,51,176
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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