China’s Covid-19 outbreak escalates

Chinarsquos worst Coronavirus outbreak since the start of the pandemic a year and a half ago escalated on Wednesday with dozens more cases around the country the sealingoff of one city and the punishment of its local leadersSince that initial outbreak was tamed last year Chinarsquos people had lived virtually free of the virus with extremely strict border controls and local distancing and quarantine measures stamping out scattered small flareups when they occurredNow the country is on high alert as an outbreak of cases connected to the international airport in the eastern city of Nanjing touched at least 17 provinces China reported 71 new cases of Covid19 from local transmission on Wednesday more than half of them in coastal Jiangsu province of which Nanjing is the capitalIn Wuhan the central city where the first cases of Covid19 were identified in late 2019 mass testing has shown some of its newly reported cases have a high degree of similarity to cases discovered in Jiangsu province Those cases have been identified as being caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant that first was identified in India Meanwhile another Covid19 hotspot was emerging in the city of Zhangjiajie near a scenic area famous for sandstone cliffs caves forests and waterfalls that inspired the onscreen landscape in the Avatar filmsThe city ordered residential communities sealed on Sunday preventing people from leaving their homes In a subsequent order on Tuesday officials said no one whether tourist or resident could leave the city The city governmentrsquos Communist Party disciplinary committee issued a list of local officials who ldquohad a negative impactrdquo on pandemic prevention and control work who would be punishedAlso read Rise in Covid19 cases worrying but premature to declare third wave ScientistsIndonesia surpasses 1 lakh Covid deathsA woman receives the Sinovac Covid19 vaccine in Denpasar Indonesia PicAFPIndonesia surpassed 100000 confirmed Covid19 deaths on Wednesday a grim milestone in a country struggling with its worst pandemic wave fuelled by the delta variant amid concerns the actual figure could be much higher It took 14 months for Indonesia to exceed the 50000 death mark at the end of May and just over nine weeks to double it The Health Ministry recorded 1747 new deaths of Covid19 in the last 24 hours bringing the total to 100636 Those figures are believed to be an undercountNew York makes vaccination proof mustNew York City will require proof of Covid19 vaccinations for guests at restaurants shows and gyms starting August 16 in a phased manner Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the new requirements on Tuesday making New York the first big city in the US to draw these battle lines as the Covid19 delta variant surges People will have to show proof of at least one vaccine dose ldquoThe goal here is to convince everyone that this is the time If wersquore going to stop the delta variant the time is now And that means getting vaccinated right nowrdquo de Blasio said on Tuesday424716No of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours199866646Total no of cases worldwide4251176Total no of deaths worldwideSource WHOJohns HopkinsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever