In the battle against the coronavirus, few places seemed as confident of victory as China. The country of 1.4 billion people had eradicated the virus so quickly that it was one of the first in the world to open up in spring last year. China is facing its biggest challenge since the virus first erupted in the Chinese city of Wuhan last year: the highly transmissible Delta variant that is rapidly spreading throughout the country. Chinese officials have acknowledged that curbing this outbreak will be much harder than the others, owing to the fast and asymptomatic spread of the variant. They may also undermine the ruling Communist Party’s argument that its authoritarian style has been an unquestionable success in the pandemic.

Source: New York Times August 04, 2021 06:48 UTC