The spread of highly virulent delta covids has sparked a new panic in China, which has effectively halted domestic tourism and launched a process to inspect entire counties.
Cases of infection with the new strain spread to 11 regions. According to Wu Liangyu, deputy director of the Office of Disease Control of the National Health Commission, since October 17, 133 local cases of the disease have been identified, which were caused by a delta strain from the same source. The Chinese quickly took up the case and during the epidemiological investigation and investigative actions found that 106 cases out of 133 were related to 13 groups of domestic tourists. Due to this, the authorities suspended tourist activities in the main areas of China, as well as the northern autonomous districts of Ningxia Hui and Gansu Province.
We will remind, the approach of the Chinese officials to detection of outbreaks of epidemics. If there is even one case of the disease among the citizens, the authorities will quarantine entire districts and check all residents for PCR tests as soon as possible. For example, in January 2021, the 10 million population of Shijiazhuang, which was visited by crowds of tourists, was checked in just three days, and this rate did not surprise anyone.
Another manifestation of the conservative approach is the complete isolation of China for physical contact with the outside world. At the beginning of the pandemic, the Chinese authorities abolished visas and restricted entry for almost all foreigners. The Chinese authorities do not even talk about tourism during the fight against the coronavirus. Therefore, even now, when another outbreak of the infection has been detected, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has ordered travel agencies to cancel any trips to areas of medium and high risk of contracting covid. In addition, the administrations of 8 provinces, including the capital Beijing, have announced the introduction of restrictions on domestic tourism as an antique-like precaution.
The National Health Commission said in the past 24 hours, 34 new cases of coronavirus of domestic origin had been detected in mainland China, with no deaths from covid over the past 24 hours in the country. In mainland China, where the first cases of coronavirus outbreaks occurred, to date, 96797 cases of the disease have been identified, killing – 4636 people. Currently, 573 patients are being treated.