The latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections is close to an end, a National Health Commission (NHC) official said on Saturday, as eight provinces hit by the latest flare-up have reported zero new cases for 14 consecutive days, and the increase in domestically transmitted cases nationwide has been limited to single-digits for four consecutive days.
Wu Liangyou, the deputy director from the NHC disease control bureau said during a Saturday briefing that except for Dalian, city in Northeast China's Liaoning, other provincial-level regions had reported few cases over recent days, which were mainly from collective quarantine spots and risk areas. The official said that even coronavirus transmission in Dalian has been flattened but he still warned risk of flare-ups.
Although many places have been struck by the latest COVID-19 resurgence, the wave was brought under control quickly. The anti-epidemic experiences in Shanghai and some other places have provided valuable lessons in guiding other regions by containing flare-ups as early as possible in order to minimize their impact, according to Wu.
Also, one major reason authorities contained the latest outbreak quickly was through advancing mass vaccination, which now covers in total about 1.23 billion people and nearly 1.1 billion of whom have received two doses, equaling an overall vaccination rate reached 87 percent, he said.
The Chinese mainland on Sunday reported seven new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the National Health Commission said in its daily report on Monday.
Of the seven local cases, five were reported in Liaoning and two in Yunnan, the commission said.
Sunday also saw reports of 31 imported cases in 10 provincial-level regions, it said.
Two new suspected cases arriving from outside the mainland were reported in Shanghai on Sunday, said the commission.
No new deaths related to COVID-19 were reported on Sunday, it added.