Zhengzhou Photo:VCG

The latest COVID-19 outbreak in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province, was triggered by the Delta variant, said local government on Sunday. 

Henan Center for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed the virus strains of the newly reported local cases and the recently imported cases, and found that the outbreak was mainly caused by the Delta variant, said Zhao Dongyang, deputy director of Henan CDC, at a press conference on Sunday. 

The epidemic in the city is still at an early stage and the situation remains severe, said Zhang Ruoshi, deputy director of Henan Health Commission, at the conference.  

The confirmed cases and asymptomatic cases reported within the province are mostly related to the Sixth People's Hospital, a designated hospital for treatment of overseas arrivals who are infected with COVID-19, Zhang said. 

Most of the infected reported on Saturday are cleaning staff, medical staff, and inpatients of the hospital.

From observing how the outbreak has progressed so far, it shows its transmission is fast and spreading rapidly. 

Zhengzhou reported 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 20 asymptomatic infections on Saturday and another one silent carrier as of 3 pm on Sunday. Another two cities in Henan, Shangqiu and Zhumadian, also reported one local confirmed case and one asymptomatic, as of 3 pm on Sunday respectively. 

The city launched a mass nucleic acid test on Saturday, which is expected to be finished on Monday. More than 1.24 million samples have been collected as of 16:10 pm on Sunday.

The city has been challenged by severe rainfall and floods recently, leading to 51 deaths as of July 23 and at least 99 deaths as of Thursday across Henan Province.

Henan, with a population of more than 99 million, has administered 100,390,000 doses?of vaccines as of Saturday.

Starting from Sunday, the province plans to promote the vaccination of adolescents. The first doses for adolescents aged between 15 to 17 and 12 to 14 will start in August and September, respectively.

This is a developing story. We will update it later.