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Due to the outbreak in Yunnan Province, which borders Myanmar, China has reported the highest daily increase in newly confirmed COVID-19 cases since January, and the province is experiencing a surge in coronavirus due to the spread of the Delta variant.
The National Health Commission said in a statement that mainland China recorded 65 new confirmed cases on July 19, up from 31 the day before. This is the most since January 30, when 92 new cases were reported.
Imported infections account for the majority of new cases. Yunnan has reported 41 new cases from abroad, all of which involve Chinese citizens who have recently returned from Myanmar.
The current round of cases in Yunnan began on July 4 and concentrated in Ruili and Longchuan, two small cities on the border between China and Myanmar.
Ruili is fighting the fourth outbreak since the pandemic began. On July 19, 7 new locally transmitted cases were reported, while Longchuan had 1 case.
Ruili is an important land transfer station in Yunnan, which has a 4,000-kilometer (2,485-mile) border with Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
The Yunnan outbreak marks the second cluster of infections in China Involve the highly contagious Delta strain, Following the outbreak in southern Guangdong Province in May and June.
“Steel Fortress”
During a visit to Ruili on Sunday, Vice Governor Zong Guoying of Yunnan Province promised to build a “steel fortress” to prevent further spread.
In Xishuangbanna Prefecture, which borders Myanmar, the police have set up checkpoints on all roads to check incoming and outgoing traffic.
The police told Reuters in a recent interview that travel outside Jinghong, the city center of Xishuangbanna, is prohibited, and special permits are required to enter neighboring cities such as Lincang and Pu’er, as well as Ruili.
In mainland China, 19 asymptomatic coronavirus cases were detected on July 19, compared with 17 the day before. China does not count asymptomatic infections as confirmed cases.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in China has now reached 92,342, and the death toll remains unchanged at 4,636.
“I want to say that if the necessary and effective actions are not taken in time to slow down the infection, more than 300,000 or as many as 400,000 people may be killed.”https://t.co/eFBtaWTAdf
-Radio Free Asia (@RadioFreeAsia) July 20, 2021
“Body Mover”
In Myanmar, it is reported that medical volunteers are collecting the rapidly increasing number of victims who have died at home from door to door, including in the commercial capital Yangon.
Every day “My team is collecting 30-40 bodies…I think other teams will be like us,” one of the volunteers, Than Than Soe, told AFP.
“Sometimes, there are two corpses in a room.”
Due to the long-term attack on the military generals who seized power in February, there are basically no doctors and patients in hospitals across the country.
Volunteers wearing personal protective equipment pray in front of the bodies of people who died of COVID-19 during the funeral at the Mandalay District Cemetery in Myanmar [Stringer/AFP]The widespread outrage over the coup-and the fear of being seen as cooperating with the military-also kept many people away from military-run hospitals, allowing volunteers to obtain oxygen and take the dead to crematoriums.
Medical workers at the forefront of COVID-19 in Myanmar The pre-coup response was attacked after leading an early mass protest against the general.
As of the latest statistics, the country has reported about 230,000 COVID-19 cases and at least 5,000 deaths, but analysts say the actual death toll may be much higher.
Last week, the military called on doctors and nurses to volunteer for COVID-19 work, acknowledging that they face “difficulties” in controlling the surge.
State media reported on Saturday that the authorities were snatching oxygen supplies from neighboring Thailand and China.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar warned last week that the country is at the risk of “becoming a super spreader of COVID-19”.
On Monday, the United Nations country team in Myanmar also stated that the new wave of infections could be catastrophic for this country of 54 million people.
The team said in a statement: “The current outbreak of COVID-19 is expected to have devastating consequences for the health of the population and the economy.”
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