Authorities in China had not registered any new cases of COVID-19 infection for nearly a month, but more than 60 new infections were found in the southeastern province of Fujian last week, Bloomberg reported.
The new center of the infection was established after two students at a local school tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday. The primary source of the virus was their father, who returned to China in early August. State experts believe he was the one who brought the new strain to the region from a sneaker, clothing and electronics factory in Singapore.
After returning to China, the man spent three weeks in quarantine, underwent 10 tests that showed no infection. This proves that the new variant of the virus is much more difficult to detect.
The virus has spread rapidly through schools and factories in Fujian, with at least 19 of those infected under the age of 12, a group that has not yet been vaccinated by Chinese authorities. Infected people have already been reported in three cities in the district, reaching 60.
These are the first cases of new infections in China in nearly a month. The authorities in the country managed very quickly to detect new cases of infected and quarantine them, thanks to the so-called Covid Zero policy that aims to completely eliminate cases of the disease in the country. It is subject to constant monitoring, restrictions on citizens and the cessation of public transport. However, this policy has a serious negative impact on the development of the economy in the country, Bloomberg TV Bulgaria reports.
Other countries in the region are already taking the opposite approach, which is not so much limiting the economy, but sees the virus as a circumstance that will be constantly present in the region. For example, Singapore is already loosening its measures after 80% of the population has been vaccinated. Australia plans to do the same in its most visited region, New South Wales, when the vaccination rate reaches 70.
At the same time, China will continue with severe restrictive measures, even though nearly 70% of the population has already been vaccinated. The reason is the skepticism of the authorities that this measure alone is enough to control the virus. They also point to the lack of evidence that the vaccines developed are effective against the more contagious delta variant.
Chinese epidemiologists expect that the infected with the new variant of the virus could reach up to 500 people, including from the surrounding provinces, but that the authorities will be able to control the situation in early October.
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