DEVELOPING: Beijing Plans All-Out 'War' To Stamp Out New Delta Variant COVID19 Infections

An outbreak of COVID19 Delta variant in the Chinese city of Nanjing has spread to other cities in China, including Beijing.

State-controlled media have described the situation in Nanjing as the worst and most extensive since Wuhan, where COVID19 first appeared in mass cases.

Authorities believe the variant came in via cleaners who worked a flight which departed Russia and arrived in Nanjing on July 10th.

All 9.3 million people in Nanjing, including tourists and visitors, will be tested according to authorities.

Strict lockdowns between provinces are being considered, and may be rolled out as necessary. Officials believe the variant may have already spread much further, due to how busy Nanjing’s airport was when the new cases were first detected.

Extensive testing in China shows the Delta variant has now spread to at least 13 cities.

Some had speculated the mRNA vaccines were actually in some way causing or facilitating the Delta variant outbreaks, and now we have a new data point that suggest that isn’t the case — or isn’t the full picture — because presumably most or everyone in Nanjing was not mRNA-vaxxed, since those vaccines are not approved for use in China. Their government has, however, approved 5 more traditionally designed COVID19 vaccines for use, and has administered at least 260 million COVID19 vaccinations according to estimates.

If it’s the case the variant came to China by way of airline cleaners who were exposed to infected persons while in Russia, that’s another data point to consider.

Wouldn’t be surprised at all if global air travel between Russia and the US and China is completely frozen.

We’re back in the churn, for Expanse fans. It may get messy from here.