Covid-19: Concern grows as Delta variant spreads to 13 Chinese provinces

An employee wearing personal protective equipment sprays disinfectant at a factory in Wuhan. Pic/AFP

China on Tuesday reported over 180 Coronavirus cases, including 108 locally-transmitted infections, the highest single-day rise since the current outbreak began last month amidst a growing concern over the spread of the more virulent Delta variant.

The National Health Commission (NMC) said in its daily report that the country reported 108 locally-transmitted cases, 35 imported and 38 asymptomatic infections on Monday.

The new wave of infections spread after a cluster of cases reported in Nanjing airport and later at Zhangjiajie, a tourist destination in China's south Hunan province
last month.

Significantly, Hubei province is currently treating 68 confirmed Covid-19 cases, including 55 locally-transmitted ones, mainly in the provincial capital Wuhan, where the Coronavirus first emerged in December, 2019.

Wuhan city has already carried out mass testing of its 12 million population. There were also 80 asymptomatic cases under medical observation in the province, with 63 of them being locally-transmitted cases, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted local health officials as saying. There is a growing concern among authorities over the spread of the Delta variant in about 13 of the country's 23 provinces. Since Sunday, Beijing has stepped up measures to prevent the spread of the contagion by virtually banning people from travelling to the Chinese capital from provinces having Covid-19 cases.

Beijing, which also reported Covid-19 cases last week, has rolled out a range of measures to strengthen the management of people returning from regions with relatively high virus transmission rates, including imposing restrictions on their purchase of railway tickets and air services.

According to the NHC, as many as 1,702 people are receiving treatment for Covid-19 in China. The condition of 54 of them was serious. The death toll due to Coronavirus since last year stands at 4,636, as per the official data.

Pak to ban train travel for unvaccinated

Pakistan has announced to ban train travel for unvaccinated people starting from October as part of the government's efforts to counter the reluctance shown by citizens to get themselves jabbed. The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) after the top anti-Coronavirus body expressed concern over the spread of the virus.

S Korea sees 1,540 breakthrough cases

South Korea confirmed a total of 1,540 "breakthrough" Covid-19 infections, which refer to people who test positive for the virus after getting fully vaccinated, health authorities said on Tuesday. The new figure was up from 1,132 a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). It equals to 23.6 in every 100,000 people, reports Xinhua news agency.

‘US military must get jabbed by Sept 15'

United States (US) Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said that all members of the American military will be required to get vaccinated against Covid-19 by September 15. "I will seek the President's approval to make the vaccines mandatory no later than mid-September, or immediately" upon licensure by the US Food and Drug Administration, "whichever comes first", Austin said in a memo.

US Customs and Border Protection agents stop drivers re-entering the US from Canada, at the Windsor Tunnel Port of Entry. Pic/AFP

Canada lifts prohibition for American visitors

Canada lifted its prohibition on Americans crossing the border to shop, vacation or visit on Monday while the United States (US) is maintaining similar restrictions for Canadians, part of a bumpy return to normalcy from Covid-19 travel bans. US citizens and legal residents must be both fully vaccinated and test negative for Covid-19 within three days to get across one of the world's longest and busiest land borders, and Canadian officials warn they won't sacrifice safety for shorter border waits. Travellers also must fill out a detailed application on the arriveCAN app before crossing.

4,61,377
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

20,36,62,139
Total no. of cases worldwide

43,08,383
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever