400mdosesofCOVID19vaccinesadministeredinChina

From: Shenzhen Daily

Updated: 2021-05-18 09:05

A senior citizen takes a COVID-19 vaccine shot in a community health service center in Putuo District, Shanghai, yesterday. The city began to vaccinate residents aged 76 and above in its voluntary and free COVID-19 vaccination program. More than 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in China by Sunday as the country steps up the inoculation drive, according to the National Health Commission yesterday.

The country is working at full throttle to vaccinate its people against COVID-19, as over 400 million doses had been administered as of Sunday, just nine days after the figure surpassed 300 million doses.

It took 17 days for the number of COVID-19 vaccines administered on the mainland to exceed 300 million doses from 200 million doses, and 26 days from 100 million doses to 200 million doses, according to daily updates by the National Health Commission.

The accelerated mass vaccination drive has been partially spurred by the latest COVID-19 outbreaks in East China’s Anhui Province and Northeast China’s Liaoning Province, which had seen 16 confirmed locally transmitted cases in total as of Sunday evening.

Long lines were seen at multiple vaccination sites in Hefei, capital city of Anhui. A temporary vaccination site has been set up in the Second Hospital of Anhui Medical University to meet the surging demand since Friday.

As of Friday, Hefei had administered over 2.6 million doses. The day also witnessed the city’s highest daily inoculation number so far — 3***,100 doses.

The city currently has more than 7,100 medical staff for COVID-19 inoculation and treatment, capable of administering 300,000 shots a day in normal circumstances.

The city of Lu’an in Anhui has raised the COVID-19 alert levels from low-risk to medium-risk in four residential communities, the city’s health commission said yesterday. The city currently has six areas classified as medium-risk.

Lu’an is conducting a second round of nucleic acid testing for people in the city’s main districts and in key areas from yesterday to tomorrow, according to the commission.

Also, the State Council inter-agency task force for COVID-19 response has dispatched a working group to guide prevention and control efforts in Anhui, the National Health Commission said yesterday.

The working group visited hospitals designated for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, disease prevention and control centers, and communities under COVID-19 control measures.

As of Sunday noon, nearly 1.14 million people in Anhui’s medium- and high-risk areas tested negative for the novel coronavirus. Experts have effectively ruled out the possibility of mass infections in the province.

The city of Shenyang, capital of Liaoning, has set up over 300 vaccination sites capable of administering 200,000 doses a day.

“Since May 12, Shenyang has seen more than 100,000 doses be administered every day. About 154,000 doses were administered Thursday, the highest figure in recent days,” said Dong Guihua, deputy director of the city’s center for disease control and prevention.

A mobile inoculation vehicle has appeared in Shenyang’s downtown area, which can serve three people at the same time.

According to the local health authorities, none of the confirmed cases from the two provinces had been vaccinated.

Gene sequencing analysis conducted by the provincial center for disease control and prevention of Anhui found the coronavirus strains behind the cases were not the highly infectious variants found in India and South Africa.

In the meantime, citywide nucleic acid tests were immediately launched, while dozens of neighborhoods were sealed off and labeled as medium- or high-risk areas