BEIJING — China's current COVID-19 containment measures are effective against the Delta variant, a health official said on Aug 5.

COVID-19 vaccines administered across the country — having surpassed 1.72 billion doses as of Aug 5 — also demonstrate good preventive and protective effects against the Delta variant, He Qinghua, an official with the National Health Commission, said at a press conference in Beijing.

Research results and clinical experience at home and abroad showed that the variant had yet led to fundamental changes in the biological characteristics of the COVID-19 virus, and scientists are basically clear about how the virus is transmitted, the official said.

He said that the current vaccines can reduce the risk of transmission, and effectively cut the incidence of severe symptoms and lower fatality rate.

China has earlier successfully stopped the spread of the Delta variant in multiple densely-populated regions with high population mobility in Guangdong Province, which proves measures including vaccination, wearing masks, washing hands frequently, keeping social distance, and avoiding crowded places are effective, the official said.