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Coronavirus pandemic
ChinaScience

China’s Delta variant outbreak in Fujian grows as Covid-19 cases hit 165 in a week

  • Fujian’s top official warns of a ‘big, tough and difficult battle ahead’ with very young children among the sick
  • 51 new infections were recorded in the province on Tuesday, 33 of them in the city of Putian, epicentre of the outbreak

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Citywide testing is under way in Putian and Xiamen as authorities try to bring an outbreak of the Covid-19 Delta variant under control in China’s southeastern Fujian province. Photo: Reuters
Zhuang Pinghui
China’s Covid-19 outbreak in the southern coastal province of Fujian is rising, with 51 new infections recorded on Tuesday and its highest ranking official predicting “a big, tough and difficult battle” ahead.
Putian, where the outbreak of the more transmissible Delta variant was first detected, recorded another 33 cases on Tuesday. Residents of the city, a six-hour train journey from Shanghai, have been ordered not to leave and citywide testing for the virus is under way.

The total number of cases across the province since the outbreak began a week ago is now 165.

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Yin Li, Fujian Communist Party secretary and a former deputy health minister, told a provincial-level meeting on Tuesday that the epidemic situation was “serious and complex, and the task of prevention and control is urgent and onerous”.

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China’s Delta variant outbreak in Fujian surges as Covid-19 cases hit 165 in a week

China’s Delta variant outbreak in Fujian surges as Covid-19 cases hit 165 in a week

Although more than 30 outbreaks have occurred in China since the Covid-19 pandemic was initially contained in April last year, the Putian cluster is the first to include significant numbers of young children.

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