Beijing: There is a sudden increase in the cases of delta form of Covid-19 in China. 15 cities including China’s capital Beijing are battling infection cases. State media have called it the most widespread domestic disease transmission since the virus outbreak in Wuhan in December 2019. The ‘Global Times’ reported that the new increase in Covid-19 cases started from an airport in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province of East China, and has spread to five other provinces and Beijing municipality.
It said the city of Nanjing has suspended all flights after several airport employees tested positive. Cases of the rapidly spreading delta form have been reported from 15 Chinese cities. The Delta form was first identified in India. Although the number of new cases is still in the hundreds, there have been increased concerns about the widespread of infection in different provinces.
The cause of concern for officials is the sudden spike of cases in Beijing, more than 175 days after the last cases were reported. The city’s local government, with a population of about 22 million, defended the city from Covid-19 for several months for the centenary celebrations of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to be held on July 1. Here are the residences of senior leaders including President Xi Jinping.
China is yet to start air travel from India and several other countries and most international flights to Beijing are diverted to other cities, where passengers had to undergo a 21-day quarantine before entering the national capital. According to the National Health Commission of China, as of Thursday, the total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the mainland of China was 92,875. This includes 932 patients under treatment, out of which the condition of 25 is critical. The virus has killed 4,636 people in the country since last year.
According to official media, China has so far vaccinated about 40 percent of its population. The coronavirus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. After this, it spread rapidly in China and around the world, and in March 2020 it was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
