Two Chinese provinces have reported the country's first cases of community transmission in over three weeks, which has triggered a run for COVID-19 vaccines as residents are lining up to get jabs.
Yingkou, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning province, reported five confirmed and eight asymptomatic cases as of Saturday, reported South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Meanwhile, the cities of Luan and Hefei in the Anhui province have reported seven confirmed cases and eight asymptomatic infections as of Sunday afternoon. Liaoning's capital Shenyang also registered one confirmed case on Sunday.
This has prompted a rush on vaccinations as Hefei authorities informed that residents were turning out in record numbers to get the shots.
"It's [suddenly] hard to get vaccinated ... We will probably have to wait several days. The queue was already long at 7.30 in the morning on Saturday and remained long despite the heavy rain during the day," said Fan, a resident of Hefei.
China has already set a target of having 40 per cent of the population vaccinated by July however experts have said that the country is unlikely to reach that goal.
"Many people have not been willing to get vaccinated, which is a problem, but we should learn a lesson from this round of cases that the virus is not far from us. If so, maybe a bad thing will turn out to be a good thing," SCMP quoted Zhao from Southern Medical University.
Yuan district officials are currently under investigation for failing to prevent the COVID-19 outbreak. According to a municipal statement, doctors who received patients with a fever in violation of coronavirus control regulations would also be suspended and held legally responsible.
Checkpoints have been set up at 10 highway toll stations between Yingkou and Dalian, requiring drivers and passengers to show a negative result of a test taken within the previous 72 hours to leave Yingkou and enter Dalian.
The Bayuquan district in Yingkou has ordered the closure of kindergartens and schools and suspended in-person private training programmes, reported SCMP.
China has been criticised widely across the world for its role in the spread of the novel coronavirus that has infected over 162 million people across the world. More than 3.3 million people have lost their lives to the virus, as per Johns Hopkins University.
( With inputs from ANI )
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