China's Jiangsu reports 184 COVID cases as 9 staff on flight to Moscow test positive

China's eastern city of Nanjing of Jiangsu province reported 184 COVID-19 infected patients in the latest outbreak. Chinese public health officials have linked the origin of the infection to a flight from Moscow. The number of cases reported in other Chinese cities can be traced back to the new outbreak, about 21 cities have witnessed the virus post Nanjing infections.

During a press conference on July 30, Deputy Director of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Nanjing, Ding Jie, said, "For the early cases of the infected janitors in this round of outbreak, their DNA sequencing matched the infected patients on the flight CA910 from Moscow on July 10."

China blocked flights from Moscow owing to COVID-19 spread

In another statement by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, flight CA910 from Moscow to Nanjing would be suspended for two weeks commencing on August 2. The update surfaced after seven passengers were infected and identified on the aircraft on July 10.

Ding added that the janitors may not have disinfected their protective shields and apparel after working on the plane, causing others to become infected. He asserted that the gene sequence of the virus found in samples of the workers were identical to that of an infected passenger arriving from the flight.

41,000 people under strict lockdown after two test positive

Till now, a total of 206 infections nationwide have been linked to the Nanjing cluster. All of them are suffering from the most contagious variant of the deadly virus. According to a television network based in Paris, at least 41,000 people have been kept under isolation in Beijing after two locally transmitted cases were found in nine housing communities. The report also said that Zhangjiajie in Hunan province has become another COVID-19 hotspot after 18 new infections were detected in the tourist city.

Though China has not maintained transparency in the COVID-19 data management aspect, the updated figures released by Worldometer says, "At least 92,875 cases have been detected in the country so far, of which 4,636 have lost their lives while 87,307 have been recovered."

COVID-19 situation in China

Pushing the total to 184 on July 29, China's latest major outbreak is triggered by the highly contagious Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2. During the news briefing, Ding enumerated that gene sequencing resulted in 52 cases that were linked to the Nanjing outbreak and it showed they contracted the Delta strain.

On July 29, China reported 64 COVID-19 cases in the mainland. The National Health Commission said that 21 of the new patients were local cases and out of the 21 local patients, 18 were reported in Jiangsu province. 2 locally contracted patients were reported in Hunan province and one was reported in the capital city. 

Hunan province has mandated all tourist sites, theatres to remain shut and large gatherings have been prohibited too.

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