China's current COVID-19 containment measures are effective against the Delta variant, a health official said Thursday.
COVID-19 vaccines administered across the country -- having surpassed 1.72 billion doses as of Wednesday -- also demonstrate good preventive and protective effects against the Delta variant, He Qinghua, an official with the National Health Commission (NHC), said at a press conference in Beijing.
Research results and clinical experience at home and abroad showed that the variant had yet led to fundamental changes in the biological characteristics of the COVID-19 virus, and scientists are basically clear about how the virus is transmitted, the official said.
He said that the current vaccines can reduce the risk of transmission, and effectively cut the incidence of severe symptoms and lower fatality rate.
China has earlier successfully stopped the spread of the Delta variant in multiple densely-populated regions with high population mobility in Guangdong Province, which proves measures including vaccination, wearing masks, washing hands frequently, keeping social distance, and avoiding crowded places are effective, the official said.
The Chinese mainland on Wednesday reported 62 new locally-transmitted COVID-19 cases, the NHC said in its daily report Thursday.
The capital Beijing, which recently classified two residential compounds as COVID-19 medium-risk areas, imposed strict entry and exit controls, asking residents to minimize travel and avoid gatherings.
Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, has launched citywide nucleic acid testing, requiring people leaving the city to show proof of negative nucleic acid tests taken within 48 hours.
Other cities like Wuhan and Nanjing have also launched mass COVID-19 testing campaigns.
