BEIJING: The resurgence in coronavirus infections in China’s neighbors is increasing the pressure on Beijing and its efforts to bring its own outbreak under control, a state health official admitted on Wednesday.

According to National Health Commission (NHC) spokesman Mi Feng, nine provinces in the East Asian country have each reported more than 100 Covid-19 cases since the start of August, with southern Hainan province having over 2,000.

The latest outbreak in Sanya, a coastal resort city in Hainan, continues to evolve, he said.

At least 125 of the over 80,000 stranded in Sanya over the weekend because of fresh Covid-19 infections detected there have left the city via a plane bound for the city of Xi’an in the country’s north.

The coronavirus situation in other regions, like Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Guangdong, is shifting rapidly, Mi added, warning of the risk of community spread.

Recently reported Covid-19 cases in the Tibet Autonomous Region also have a high risk of escalating, according to the spokesman, who added that the outbreak in other regions and provinces that reported cases earlier has been brought under control.

The discovery of 22 infections in Tibet — all but one are asymptomatic — have forced authorities there to close the Potala Palace, the former home of the exiled Dalai Lama, on Tuesday.

Tibet’s economy is dependent on tourism, and the Potala Palace is a key attraction, with hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

Noting that working groups have been dispatched to the affected regions to aid containment efforts, Mi reiterated the importance to guard against imported cases and domestic resurgence and adhere to the government’s zero-Covid policy.

Under this policy, authorities hold mass coronavirus testing, impose wide “closed management” systems — their preferred term for lockdowns — and isolate confirmed cases in designated quarantine facilities to stamp out infections.

Their strict compliance with this approach has resulted in significant supply chain snarls affecting the global economy, slowing its growth.

As of Tuesday, 3.427 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses had been administered in the Chinese mainland. Nearly 239 million people 60 years old and older have been vaccinated, the NHC official said.