China reports no new local Covid-19 cases for first time since July, as Delta outbreak wanes

[discocrisco01]

Source: CNN

Hong Kong (CNN)
China reported no new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases on Monday for the first time since July, according to its National Health Commission (NHC), as authorities double down on the country's stringent zero-Covid approach.

China has been grappling with the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant since July 20, when a cluster of Covid-19 infections were detected among airport cleaning staff in the eastern city of Nanjing.
Since then, it has spiraled into the worst outbreak China has seen since 2020, spreading to more than half of the country's 31 provinces and infecting more than 1,200 people. The surging cases driven by Delta were seen as the biggest challenge yet to China's uncompromising zero tolerance virus policy.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/23/china/china-zero-case-delta-intl-hnk/index.html

[dalton99a]

1. Yeah, there are zero new Delta cases in China AND Hong Kong is free!

[NCDem47]

2. My thoughts exactly.

We might as well take the word of Putin and Trump that its all rainbows and unicorns.

[Hortensis]

3. Centralized government applying "draconian curbs."

The real counts don't have to be 0 or 1200. If they're 1200 and 12,000 in a nation over over a billion, it's fantastic -- as long as they continue that direction.

Despite Delta, China Hits Zero Cases With A Month Of Draconian Curbs
China took testing to an unprecedented level during this go-round.

It's been just over a month, and China has once again squelched Covid-19, bringing its local cases down to zero. It was more difficult this time, even though the leaders of the world's most populous nation used the same playbook they followed to quell more than 30 previous flare-ups. The arrival of the more infectious delta variant has raised the stakes, as the pathogen refines its ability to escape curbs and flout vaccination. It's unclear how long the victory will last.

China took testing to an unprecedented level during this go-round. Local authorities checked their populations repeatedly, a dozen times in one city alone, to ensure every last infection was caught. In all, more than 100 million tests were administered. In the city of Yangzhou, some people were infected while waiting in line to get swabbed.

Quarantines also played a larger role. The Chinese capital of Beijing at one point was sealed off from other places with even a single case. It also cut off trains and flights from hotspots around the country, even though the city ultimately posted fewer than 10 infections in the delta flareup.

Other regions introduced sweeping curbs, from barring entry for people from high-risk areas to asking them to cut short vacations. Most had to remain isolated at home - a rule that was strictly enforced - before returning to work and school. More than 200 neighborhoods were labeled high- or medium-risk, triggering sweeping curbs that disrupted lives and businesses.

[IronLionZion]

4. And they totally didn't leak COVID from the Wuhan lab

bats, we'll go with bats

[Irish_Dem]

5. We cannot believe anything that China says.

So we have no idea if they have contained the virus or not.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. "as authorities double down on the country's stringent zero-Covid approach."

From the OP article -

(snip)

Local authorities responded by placing tens of millions of residents under strict lockdown, rolling out massive testing and tracing campaigns and restricting domestic travels.

The strict measures appeared to be working. Daily infections have fallen steadily over the past week into single digits, down from more than 100 from its peak two weeks ago.

And on Monday, the country reported 21 imported cases and zero locally transmitted symptomatic infections -- the first time no local cases have been recorded since July 16. It also reported 16 asymptomatic cases, all of which were imported too, according to the NHC. China keeps a separate count of symptomatic and asymptomatic cases and does not include asymptomatic carriers of the virus in the official tally of confirmed cases.

If the trend continues, China could become the world's first country to control a major Delta outbreak.

(snip)

(emphasis mine)

Yes, when you lock down everything and people are not running around unmasked and interacting with each other, you deprive the virus of its host food. Give the virus its human food, and it will be back with a vengeance.

THAT is the one thing that has been consistently proven to be effective from day one and it is as simple as that.

Unfortunately doing that causes untold mental and economic stress, and it establishes that this thing is going to be around for quite a while.

[Javaman]

7. aka north korea with flasher PR. nt

[luckone]

8. Someone with relatives there told me can not go more than 2 km from their home & if they want to

go further then their 2km area they have to get a covid test and wait for results

But of course they are almost all in masks. People have turned on nonmaskers similar to how masked people are harassed in some US places so same tension, just the opposite way, and not as common he said

My only concern when he showed me pictures of the Covid testing lines there was that they did not seem to social distance much in the line . But yes they are tracing by sectors of the city they live in and seem determined to get this gone.