China in worst Covid outbreak since first Wuhan wave as Delta variant spreads

China has been struck by its most extensive outbreak of Covid since it first emerged in Wuhan as cases of the Delta variant escape border closures and spread, state media has reported.

The country has been following a zero tolerance approach to Covid-19, responding heavily to upticks in cases, and has now reported 206 new cases since July 20 focused around the city of Nanjing.

These have been confirmed as the highly-infectious Delta variant.

The rise in cases has led to Chinese state media calling it the most extensive outbreak since the first wave in Wuhan over a year and a half ago.

This outbreak started with airport workers who were cleaning a plane that had arrived from Russia.

They tested positive and since then it has spread to at least five provinces and 13 cities, including capital city Beijing.

Chinese state media have called this outbreak the most extensive since the original which saw Wuhan locked down and began the pandemic ( VCG via Getty Images)

It was reported by state media that the cleaners did not follow the rigorous hygiene measures in place.

Local officials said seven of those infected in the outbreak were in critical conditions.

For now the number of cases remains relatively small, and spread thinly across the country, which has led to some Chinese state media comparing it to the initial outbreak in Wuhan in 2019.

Flights from Nanjing airport have been suspended until at least August 11 in an attempt to contain the outbreak and all 9.3million residents of the city have been ordered to take PCR tests according to Xinhua, state media .

Checkpoints have been set up within the city of Nanjing as well to try and force case numbers back down to zero.

All newcomers to the city have to undergo 14 days of quarantine at special facilities and another seven at home.

Nanjing is in the Jiangsu province, which has had hundreds of thousands of people locked down as 41,000 are affected by stay at home orders in Bejing’s Changping district.

Sichuan and Liaoning provinces have also reported cases.

Local officials said seven of those infected are in critical condition ( Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock)

As has the Hunan province, where the original outbreak began.

After it was revealed people travelled from Nanjing to Hebei province and Inner Mongolia, testing and contract tracing has been carried out there too.

Four people attended an open-air event in the city of Zhangjiajie and tested positive.

Then two close contacts of those cases had already travelled to Bejing before testing positive for covid-19 as well.

The outbreak has led to criticism of the Chinese vaccination, with a number of South-East Asian countries who had previously relied on the jab, announcing they will use other vaccines.

Doubts about the Sinovac however are outweighed by dangers of catching the virus but a number of the countries with the highest case numbers are also primarily reliant on the Chinese vaccine.

Yunnan province was hit by an outbreak after residents visited the neighbouring Myanmar and tested positive after arriving home, the delta variant is now causing a fast rise in cases.

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