Officials in the China-Myanmar border city of Ruili in Yunnan province vowed to ramp up their efforts to guard the border against Covid-19 by stepping up border controls and cracking down on illegal immigrants, after the delta variant was detected in the city, making it the second city to be hit by the mutated strain after Guangzhou. Illegally crossing the border will be severely punished, and illegal immigrants and those who organize, assist or shelter them will face severe punishment as well, Zhai Yulong, Ruili Party Secretary, said. All officials in public posts in Ruili have been assigned their own responsibility for guarding the border. Yunnan Provincial Party Secretary Ruan Chengfa instructed local officials to firmly guard the country's gates with “death-defying determination,” given the extremely grave and complex pandemic situation outside China.
Ruili announced a lockdown in its main urban areas, beginning at midnight on July 6, after the city reported 15 new confirmed Covid-19 cases and two asymptomatic carriers. Residents are required to stay at home, and most businesses must suspend operations. A new round of nucleic acid testing was launched in Ruili’s main urban areas and in Wanding town. All residents in the city’s main urban areas, which have a population of about 270,000, were under quarantine at home. Schools suspended classes, and places of business, except for some supermarkets, wet markets, hospitals and pharmacies, were closed. Restaurants are allowed to provide take-out service only, and residents can order daily necessities from online e-commerce platforms. A total of 23 sites were established to offer vegetables, meat, eggs and fruit to surrounding residents.
Some Western press reports doubt the efficacy of Chinese vaccines but a recent academic report revealed that large-scale real-world data from Chile prove that Sinovac's vaccine, named CoronaVac, is 65.9% effective at preventing symptomatic cases, 87.5% in preventing hospitalization, 90.3% against ICU admission, and 86.3% against coronavirus-related deaths. The research covered 10.2 million participants. CoronaVac's efficiency against hospitalization was reported as over 90% in studies in both Brazil and Indonesia. China's top epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan said on June 28 that Chinese vaccines are also effective against the delta variant. A Beijing-based immunologist suggested that inactivated vaccines such as CoronaVac are more efficient against variants compared to mRNA vaccines.
As of July 9, China has provided 500 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines and concentrates used for production to more than 100 countries and international organizations, accounting for one-sixth of global Covid-19 vaccine production, Guo Xuejun, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of International Economic Affairs, said. Of the 140 countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, 84 agreed to import Chinese vaccines in the first half of this year.
