Fresh Covid-19 wave spreads to 21 provinces in China, govt goes for drastic steps

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The highly transmissible Delta variant continues to surface in different provinces of China. The latest outbreak has now affected 21 provinces—two-thirds of the country.</p>
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The north-western city of Dalian is worst affected with a surge in the number of coronavirus cases. Several dozen cases were found at the Zhuanghe University city after which the authorities confined as many as 1,500 university students to their dormitories and transferred hundreds to hotels.<br />
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Dalian is witnessing coronavirus cases on a daily basis. Similarly, Liaoning province in the north-east is showing community transmission.<br />
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Reuters data shows that a total of 1,308 domestically transmitted infections were reported in the country between October 17 and November 14, surpassing the previous record of 1,280 local cases reported during the summer.<br />
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Even though China has managed to contain the spread of the virus much better than other countries, the Delta strain has become a cause of concern as it has spread across the country creating pockets of infection.<br />
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In a bid to protect Beijing from the spread, all visitors to the capital have to provide a negative test result from this Wednesday.<br />
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Working on its policy of zero-tolerance, China is responding to the flare-ups with contact tracing, continuous testing of people in affected areas, curbs on public transport and closure of areas that it deems as hotspots. It has also put quarantine measures for people traveling from affected cities.<br />
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China has administered over two billion shots of the vaccine and has now begun to administer booster shots. Health authorities fear that the onset of winter may push up the number of infections.<br />
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China has reported a total of 98,315 confirmed coronavirus cases with 4,636 deaths till November 14.</p>