China is battling the spread of its biggest Covid-19 outbreak caused by the Delta variant, according to numbers announced today.
Travellers from a city where infections have grown faster than elsewhere in the country are subject to tough quarantine rules in nearby areas.
Chinese authorities said 32 new domestically transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms were reported yesterday, most of which were in northeastern Dalian city.
That brings the tally of local cases since 17 October to 1,308, Reuters calculations based on official data showed, surpassing the 1,280 local cases from a summer Delta outbreak.
This marks China's most widespread Delta outbreak, which has affected 21 provinces, regions and municipalities.
While it is smaller than many outbreaks in other countries, Chinese authorities are anxious to block any further transmissions under the government's zero-tolerance guidance.
A dozen province-level regions contained their flare-ups within weeks in the current outbreak, thanks to quick implementation of a complex set of curbs.
This included rigorous contact tracing, multiple rounds of testing of people in at risk areas, the closure of entertainment and cultural venues and restrictions on tourism and public transport.
However, Dalian remains locked in a struggle with the virus, Wu Liangyou, an official at the National Health Commission has said.
Since Dalian's first local symptomatic patients from the time the latest outbreak was reported on 4 November, the port city of 7.5 million people has detected an average of about 24 new local cases a day, more than any other Chinese cities, according to Reuters calculations.
A few cities near Dalian, including Dandong, Anshan and Shenyang, have said people arriving from Dalian have to be quarantined at centralised facilities for 14 days before they can move freely, in an unusually cautious measure.
As of yesterday, mainland China had reported 98,315 confirmed coronavirus cases with symptoms, including domestically transmitted infections and those from overseas. There have been 4,636 deaths.
Cambodia reopens to fully vaccinated travellers
Cambodia has announced that fully vaccinated foreign travellers can visit the kingdom without quarantine from today, giving a boost to the tourism industry.
Travel restrictions imposed to tackle the pandemic put the brakes on Cambodia's burgeoning tourism industry.
Revenue plummeted to $1 billion last year, down from nearly $5 billion in 2019, when the country attracted 6.6 million visitors.
Prime Minister Hun Sen made an unexpected announcement last night that all fully vaccinated international travellers, tourists and business people could visit the whole of Cambodia freely without quarantine from today.
The decision overrode the previous reopening plan, under which popular beach spots Sihanoukville and the island of Koh Rong, as well as Dara Sakor -- a Chinese-developed resort zone -- were set to welcome visitors from 30 November.
The reopening of Siem Reap, the gateway to the world heritage-listed Angkor Wat complex, is brought forward from January.
The prime minister said travellers would have to show two negative Covid tests, with one taken no less than 72 hours before travel and one on arrival in Cambodia.
"When they arrive and we see they have received two doses of vaccine, we will take swabs for rapid tests. After results show they are free of Covid-19, they are allowed to travel across Cambodia," he said in an audio message posted on his Facebook page.
Unvaccinated travellers will have to quarantine for 14 days.
