Wuhan Photo: CFP

The COVID-19 flare-up in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, is caused by the Delta variant, and the virus sequencing is highly similar to that from the epidemic outbreak in East China's Jiangsu, Wuhan health authorities said on Wednesday. The city has strengthened guards in controlling the virus spread, locking down more than a dozen residential communities and construction sites. 

The seven previously confirmed COVID-19 cases in Wuhan were caused by the Delta variant, and share high similarity with the one detected in the latest Jiangsu outbreak, Wuhan health officials said on Wednesday at a press briefing. 

Transmission chain in Wuhan is found to be solely from one confirmed case surnamed Tang, who crossed track with people from Jiangsu's Huai'an on July 27. Tang later infected his roommates and colleagues working at a construction site. 

Epidemiological reports of the infected patients show high viral loads in their bodies, which the Delta variant is known for. The variant is also known for high transmission rate and fast spreading, which has posed serious challenges to the epidemic control in the city, officials said. 

In response to the surging infection, Wuhan has locked down 16 residential communities and 11 construction sites. 

The city has set up a total of 31,300 rooms for isolation, 26,100 of which have already been used, and 9,000 more rooms are estimated to be put into use in the next three days, authorities said at the press briefing. 

On Tuesday, Wuhan began a city-wide COVID-19 testing.

Hubei Province found nine new confirmed cases on Tuesday, bringing the total to 33 in the latest outbreak, of which 12 locally transmitted ones are from Wuhan. Another four silent carriers were found on the same day, the local health commission said. 

Global Times