China's COVID-19 vaccines have "considerable" efficacy in protecting people from the mutated coronavirus strain detected in India, a Chinese health expert told a Friday press conference.
Feng Zijian, an expert with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, attributed the COVID-19 outbreak in Guangzhou, capital city of south China's Guangdong Province, to the coronavirus mutation originating from India, saying that the variant is more contagious and spreads faster.
Among the confirmed cases in the latest COVID-19 resurgence in Guangdong, those without vaccinations had a "notably" higher incidence of developing severe conditions than the inoculated ones, Feng noted.
"It proves that vaccination is still effective against the mutated virus strain," said Feng.
Feng called for further implementing comprehensive epidemic prevention and control measures while accelerating vaccinations to curb the outbreak in Guangdong.
Guangdong reported nine new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Thursday. Over 845.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered across China as of Thursday, according to the National Health Commission.
