China Thought They’d Beaten COVID, Now the Indian Variant Is Surging (yahoo.com)
China Thought They’d Beaten COVID, Now the Indian Variant Is Surging
Barbie Latza Nadeau
Tue, June 1, 2021, 7:24 AM
Barbie Latza Nadeau
Tue, June 1, 2021, 7:24 AM
CNS Photo via Reuters
The Chinese government has taken the drastic measure of canceling hundreds of flights and locking down several streets in the city of Guangzhou, which has a population of over 15.3 million, because of the rapid spread of the Indian variant of COVID-19.
The bustling city has had, until now, very few reported cases, but since the weekend, the number of new infections tied to the variant first identified in India and now known as the Delta variant, has been doubling daily, according to Chinese state media, which often under reports statistics about the pandemic.
“In this race against the virus, we must run a bit ahead and run faster than before in order to block the spread of the virus and cut off the infection chain in time,” Huang Guanglie, director of the Guangzhou municipal health commission said Tuesday.
Since Sunday, hundreds of flights have been canceled into and out of Guangdong Baiyun international airport in an attempt to contain the fast spread. The municipal government also banned all residents of Guangzhou from leaving the city without a so-called “green pass” on their state-run COVID-19 apps.
Inside dining has also been prohibited in much of the city, and in lockdown communities, only one person can leave the house to buy essential goods.
The lockdowns are reminiscent of the beginning of the pandemic, when Wuhan became the first epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, which quickly spread to Italy and then the rest of the world. China has reported just 91,122 cases of COVID-19 and 4,636 related deaths since the pandemic began, a figure that is considered modest.