No new local cases as tough action pays off

China reported no new locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 on Sunday for the first time since July, a sign the current outbreak may be waning amid tough anti-virus measures across the country.

The National Health Commission reported on Monday a total of 21 new infections were detected among travelers arriving in China's mainland for Sunday, but no new local case was found.

More than 1,200 people have been confirmed infected in an outbreak that officials said has been mainly driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant, which was brought in from abroad and caused a cluster in late July in the eastern city of Nanjing.

No deaths have been reported in the outbreak.

But it spurred authorities across the country to impose counter-epidemic measures including mass testing for millions of people to identify and isolate carriers, as well as travel restrictions of varying degrees.

Across China, new daily local cases fell to the single-digit level last week, after peaking in early August.

Since the weekend, authorities have lifted lockdowns in a few areas in Beijing, as well as in the cities Wuhan and Jingmen in central Hubei Province, after these cities had sealed up some areas to contain the virus.

Sichuan has allowed travel agencies to resume tours outside the province, barring places still deemed at risk.

Beijing has been cleared of medium and high-risk areas with the last medium-risk area – a residential community at Yancun Township in the district of Fangshan – being downgraded to low-risk on Monday, according to the city's center for disease control and prevention.

By contrast, Shanghai placed hundreds of people under quarantine over the weekend after some fresh infections were reported, sparking concerns of a fresh outbreak in the city. Still, Shanghai reported no new local infections for August 22.

The number of scheduled domestic flights for August has fallen 19 percent from a year earlier, according to global aviation data company Cirium, after the latest outbreak dented demand for travel and authorities allowed bookings to be canceled without penalty.

Flights in and out of Nanjing and Yangzhou remained suspended, although Nanjing said on Sunday that it no longer required people leaving the city by rail or by highway to show negative COVID-19 test results.

Experts do not expect China to alter its zero-tolerance playbook in the near future – even when facing just a handful of local infections.

"Ordinary people are basically used to the measures without having too many complaints. And the effectiveness (of those measures) is discernible – case numbers recently have significantly declined," said Chen Zhengming, professor of epidemiology at the University of Oxford.

China has also been clamping down on officials who mishandled local outbreaks, with dozens punished in the latest resurgence.