More than 1.6 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across China as of Wednesday, the National Health Commission (NHC) said Thursday.

Multiple regions in the country have recently reported locally-transmitted COVID-19 cases, in the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant. This signifies that it is not the time now for anyone to lower the guard or relax anti-epidemic efforts against the importation and local resurgence of the coronavirus cases.

Disease control experts have called for active inoculation efforts, further containment measures in pivotal areas and sites, and better personal protection.

The Chinese mainland recorded 64 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday, with 21 being local transmissions and 43 from overseas, the latest data from the National Health Commission showed Friday.

(With input from Xinhua)