A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid testing in Henantun Village of Xingfu Town in Heihe, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Nov. 7, 2021.Photo:Xinhua

The latest COVID-19 flare-ups in China have spread to  21 provincial-level regions, or two thirds of the country. With the onset of winter and lower temperatures, the risk of COVID-19 infection combined with respiratory infections such as influenza will increase, officials from China's National Health Commission (NHC) said on Saturday at a press conference in Beijing.

China is committed to its "zero COVID" strategy, and will continue strengthening prevention efforts in port cities to control import infections and keep promoting massive vaccination, according to Mi Feng, spokesperson of NHC.

The current outbreak of infections appears to be leveling off, with early-phase infections in Heihe from Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Shijiazhuang from North China's Hebei Province, and others have been gradually brought under control, said Wu Liangyou, a deputy director from the NHC disease control bureau.

The situation in Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning Province remains complex, with community transmission uncovered in individual towns and streets in the city, but cases are mainly concentrated in Zhuanghe city and have not yet spread to outside of Dalian, Wu said.

A medical worker prepares a dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Nov 12, 2021.Photo:Xinhua

As for the vaccination rollout, officials confirmed that a total of 2.37 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across China as of Friday, with 1.074 billion individuals completing their full course of vaccination.

More than 95 percent of students aged 18 and older have been vaccinated. In addition, 84.4 million children aging from 3 to 11 have received their shots, with the goal of completing the full course of vaccination by the end of December.

During the latest flare-up, 21 officials in Xining, Northwest China's Qinghai Province, have been held accountable for poor epidemic control performanceand three have been sacked. Xining has been hit by a new outbreak of COVID-19 since October 28, leading to lockdowns in several communities.

Beijing will require all individuals entering the capital to provide a negative nucleic acid test result taken within 48 hours and a green health code, starting from November 17, amid recent COVID-19 flare-ups that have spread to 21 provincial-level regions, or two thirds of the country, local authorities announced at a Saturday press conference.