Cover Story: How Should China Respond to the Delta Variant?

After largely controlling the Covid-19 pandemic for 20 months, China’s “zero-case” strategy is facing its biggest challenge yet: the highly transmissible and virulent delta variant.

As of Thursday, China had 533 new cases in 18 out of 31 provinces and province-level cities, all of them caused by the delta mutation of the coronavirus. The rapid spread makes China’s control measures more costly and is stirring debate over whether the government needs to recalibrate its strategy.