The National Health Commission said 59 new locally transmitted cases were reported for Sept. 13, up from 22 infections a day earlier. Preliminary tests on samples from some Putian cases showed patients had contracted the highly transmissible Delta variant. The virus has since spread south to Xiamen, which reported 32 new cases of community transmission for Sept. 13 compared with just one infection a day earlier. The first patient in the Xiamen cluster was a close contact of a case in Putian, Xiamen authorities said late on Monday. Three new cases of community transmission were also reported in nearby Quanzhou city, versus six infections a day earlier.
