xi's moments
Home | Asia Pacific

India's virus surge sounds alarm for the world

By WANG XIAOYU and ZOU SHUO | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2021-04-30 07:26

Precautionary measures

People carry oxygen cylinders after refilling them in a factory, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ahmedabad, India, April 25, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]

Feng Zijian, deputy director-general of the China CDC, said during an interview with Xinhua News Agency that China has implemented rigorous and consistent precautionary measures to ward off the risk of imported cases, and they have been effective and will continue to work if they are enforced strictly.

"As a result, the new wave of outbreaks in India will not exert much impact in China overall," he said. "But we must remain highly vigilant due to the mounting pressure from foreign outbreaks."

Feng added that China and India, the two most populous countries in the world, have challenges to vaccinating at least 70 percent of their populations to establish herd immunity.

Nearly 244 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in China as of Wednesday, the National Health Commission reported. It said on Thursday that the national vaccination campaigns will not be suspended during the upcoming five-day holiday.

"We must actively push for mass vaccination," Feng said. "It is also suggested that India expedite vaccination coverage because mass inoculation is the only way to build an immunity barrier, as well as lessen or eradicate repercussions of the COVID-19 outbreak at the root," he said.

China had reported no new domestic infections for 13 consecutive days as of Wednesday, officials said. But the public is urged to stick to regular virus control measures during the holiday.

Li Huaqiang, deputy director of the Ministry of Transport's transportation services department, said on Thursday that about 265 million passenger trips were expected during the upcoming holiday, close to the total recorded in 2019.

|<< Previous 1 2   
Global Edition
BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349