After more than a month since the Delta variant appeared in China, Chinese authorities have announced that they are back to zero cases. Delta variant COVID-19 cases appeared on July 20.
The first cases were identified among a cluster of infections in the airport cleaning staff in the eastern city of Nanjing. It started with just one person who was asymptomatic at the airport in Nanjing. The next day, 12 people were confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19’s Delta variant.
By the end of that week, the daily infections all over China climbed to 50. But in less than three weeks after that, China announced it has no more COVID-19 Delta variant cases, Fortune reported.
According to reports, China’s local authorities tested the country’s population repeatedly to ensure that no one else was infected. More than 100 million tests were administered in more than a month since the July 20 outbreak.
The Chinese capital of Beijing, likewise, imposed quarantines and cut-offs for trains and flights all over the country. For the other regions in China, authorities banned people from high-risk areas and asked other citizens to cut short their vacations in the regions. Many went back to work-from-home set-ups to ensure that not many people will be infected with the Delta variant.
Nearly 50 cities had Delta cases, and even Wuhan, which was COVID-free for more than a year, was penetrated by the variant. The viral hotspot was in Jiangsu province, and around 18 patients were in critical condition. Because of this, Chinese officials feared that they would see their first COVID-19 fatalities again after more than six months of not recording any COVID-related death. However, many of these patients showed signs of disease moderation and recovery.
The development comes as many countries in the world, including the United States, are grappling with a surge in Delta variant coronavirus cases.
