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Traffic control measures have been imposed in parts of Guangzhou in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus Image caption: Traffic control measures have been imposed in parts of Guangzhou in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus

In the past 24 hours, China has confirmed eight new domestic symptomatic cases of Covid-19, all in southern Guangdong province.

This is the only area of mainland China where there is currently an outbreak; 164 people are currently in hospital across the province. Most patients are in the populous city of Guangzhou, which along with the nearby city of Foshan and Wuchuan County, has local lockdowns in place.

Guangzhou is one of China’s biggest cities, and as cases of mutant variants have been detected, there have been some fears that it could see a large-scale outbreak, like those seen in the cities of Wuhan or Shijiazhuang.

However, huge vaccine uptake has helped China avoid a third wave – more than 800 million vaccine doses have now been administered across the country and recent media reports have suggested new patients have exhibited mild or no symptoms.

Even with triple-digit cases, tens of thousands of students have still been able to sit their university entrance exams in Guangzhou this week. This would have been unthinkable during earlier outbreaks – China’s approach to date has been to swiftly lock down communities and order mass testing drives, allowing people very little room for manoeuvre.

But vaccination uptake has helped China relax its Covid-19 regulations. Local governments have been increasingly finding safe ways for events to go ahead, rather than simply cancelling them.

It is still not clear how this latest outbreak began. Health officials in Guangzhou say the genetic sequencing of cases in the city show a 98% similarity, suggesting they are all linked to the same chain of transmission. A local health commission official tells the official CCTV broadcaster “more investigation is needed to identify patient zero” .