China reported no new domestic coronavirus cases on Monday. Beijing appears poised to bring to heel the pandemic’s most serious resurgence in months driven by the highly contagious Delta variant with mass testing and targeted lockdowns.
- The latest outbreak of China, which began in mid-July when cleaners at a Nanjing airport tested positive, is the most severe since Covid-19 first surfaced in the central city of Wuhan.
- Over a thousand people have been infected across dozens of cities. But Communist authorities reacted with swift localized lockdowns, travel restrictions and mass testing of neighborhoods with infections as part of their “zero case” approach to the pandemic.
- Now new domestic infections have been falling for over two weeks. National Health Commission data showed local infections returned to zero after a five week battle on Monday.
- Meanwhile, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen received her first dose of the island’s domestically developed coronavirus vaccine on Monday, launching its rollout to the public.
- People in the UK will be able to receive Covid-19 antibody tests for the first time next week as part of a new government program. Up to 8,000 adults will be able to take part in the scheme.
- Russia reported 20,564 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the national tally to 6,747,087. Of this total, 1,661 were recorded in Moscow and 1,481 in St. Petersburg.
- In Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said the stringent lockdown strategy will remain in place until at least 70% of country is fully vaccinated as the country sees record numbers of cases.
However, New Zealand’s nationwide lockdown is extending until at least the end of the week, as the country battles to contain an outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19.
