Covid Cases From Myanmar Drive Mainland Total Up

The mainland on Tuesday reported the highest daily tally of new confirmed Covid-19 cases since January, driven by a surge in imported infections in southwestern Yunnan province, which shares a border with Myanmar.

The mainland recorded 65 new confirmed cases for July 19, compared with 31 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said in a statement. That was the most since January 30, when 92 new cases were reported.

Imported infections accounted for most of the new cases reported for July 19, with Yunnan reporting 41 new cases originating from abroad, all of whom were Chinese nationals who recently returned from Myanmar.

The current bout of cases in Yunnan started on July 4, and has been concentrated in Ruili and Longchuan, two small cities on the border with Myanmar, which has been hit by a sharp uptick in infections since June.

Ruili, battling its fourth outbreak since the pandemic started, reported seven new locally transmitted cases for July 19, while Longchuan had one. Ruili is a key overland transit point for Yunnan, which has a 4,000 km border with Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The Yunnan outbreak marks the second cluster of infections in China involving the highly contagious Delta strain, following an outbreak in Guangdong in May and June.

For the mainland, 19 asymptomatic coronavirus cases were detected on July 19, compared to 17 a day earlier. Beijing does not count asymptomatic infections as confirmed cases. (Reuters)