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Chinese authorities in Guangdong province have cancelled flights and locked down communities in response to what is believed to be the first community outbreak of the “Delta” or Indian variant in China.
Guangdong province had been reporting daily single figures of local cases, including asymptomatic cases, for more than a week, until the case load suddenly jumped to 23 on Monday, including three asymptomatic cases, and 11 on Tuesday. Most of Guandong’s cases are in the city of Guangzhou, with some in nearby Foshan, which has a population of 7.2 million.
Related: China locks down part of Guangzhou amid outbreak of Indian Covid variant
Malaysia has begun a tough nationwide lockdown to battle a worsening coronavirus outbreak, AFP reports, as countries across Southeast Asia struggle with a resurgence in cases driven by infectious variants.
It writes,
Much of the region escaped the pandemic’s first wave last year relatively unscathed by rapidly closing borders and introducing curbs.
