China: Authorities begin testing in Nanjing as COVID-19 Delta variant cases identified

The COVID-19 cases continue to rise rapidly since the past week in Nanjing, the capital of east China's Jiangsu Province. The new coronavirus cases in the city have been identified of the highly transmissible Delta variant, as per a report by Xinhua. Addressing a press conference, Ding Jie, Vice Director of the city's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said that the recent spike in the cases of the novel virus is of highly infectious Delta variant.

Delta variant of COVID-19 in Nanjing

In the press conference, Ding Jie mentioned that locally transmitted COVID-19 cases were on the rise after a few airport workers tested positive for COVID-19 last week. Ding confirmed that the latest outbreak was reported among flight cabin cleaners of the Nanjing Lukou International Airport, as per the Xinhua report. After the cabin cleaners tested positive last week, more than 100 cases have been reported in the city.

Since last week, the cases have been reported among airport workers and their contacts as well. Some of the flight passengers who visited the Nanjing Airport have also tested COVID-19 positive. In order to curb the spread of the virus, health authorities have started a second all-inclusive nucleic acid testing campaign in Nanjing city. The authorities urged people not to leave the city unless very necessary. The authorities have listed four high-risk areas and 36 medium-risk areas in Nanjing city, hence tightening COVID protocols to be followed by the residents of the areas.

COVID-19 situation in China

According to National Health Commission of China, the country has reported 76 new COVID-19 cases taking the overall tally to 92,676 cases. Apart from 87,228 overall recovered cases, a total of 4,636 people have died of coronavirus so far. A total of 27,619 confirmed cases have been notified from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, Among them Hong Kong Special Administration Region (SAR) reported a total of 11,978 cases, out of which 212 persons have died so far. 

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