China virus cases surge as Delta spreads
BEIJING: New local COVID-19 infections more than doubled in China’s southeastern province of Fujian, health authorities said on Tuesday, prompting officials to quickly roll out measures including travel restrictions to halt the spread of the virus.
The National Health Commission said 59 new locally transmited cases were reported for Sept.13, up from 22 infections a day earlier. All of them were in Fujian, a province bordered by Zhejiang to the north and Guangdong to the south.
In just four days, a total of 102 community infections have been reported in three Fujian cities, including Xiamen, a tourist and transport hub with a population of 5 million.
The infections come ahead of the week-long National Day holiday starting on Oct. 1, a major tourist season.
Like Putian, Xiamen has locked down some areas of higher virus risk, cut offline classes at kindergartens, primary schools and high schools, closed public venues such as cinemas, gyms and bars, and told residents not to leave the city for non-essential reasons.
The first patient in the Xiamen cluster was a close contact of a case in Putian, Xiamen authorities said late on Monday.
About 60% of flights to and from Xiamen were cancelled on Tuesday, according to aviation data provider Variflight.
Both Putian and Xiamen began city-wide testing for the coronavirus on Tuesday. The cities, however, are yet to announce tough city-wide lockdowns as seen in early 2020 in China.
Meanwhile, Indonesia plans to start opening its borders to foreigners in November once 70% of its target population have received at least one vaccine shot, its health minister said on Tuesday.
In an interview, Budi Gunadi Sadikin said he was taking cues from the strategy adopted by Britain, which he said prioritised rolling out first doses and had achieved a lower rate of hospital admissions and fatalities.
“So for us we concentrate on the first dose. If we can vaccinate 70% of the target population of 208 million, if we can hit 140-150 million, 70% with the first dose, then we can gradually start reopening,” he said. “And my calculation is that will be reached by November.”
The November 2021 timeline is the first time a senior Indonesian minister has commited publicly to a dateline for reopening the country’s borders.
Only foreign nationals who have diplomatic or working visas, or are eligible for other exemptions, are permited to enter Indonesia.