Over 1 billion people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in China, the National Health Commission said at a press conference on Thursday.

Wang Huaqing, chief immunologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the virus is less likely to spread as more people are fully vaccinated.

"The vaccination of over 1 billion people has set a great foundation for us to fight against COVID-19," Wang said, "although the virus variants have undermined the efficacy of the vaccines, which made it more challenging to achieve herd immunity."

"We need to double down on monitoring and preventing the virus with further research and better strategies," Wang added.

Border areas and other regions with frequent movement of inbound personnel are encouraged to conduct regular or aperiodic nucleic acid testing for teachers and students on a pro-rata basis, according to the Ministry of Education (MOE).

The latest COVID-19 resurgence in southeast China's Fujian Province was first detected in a spot check for students by their school, MOE official Wan Lijun said at the press conference.

According to Wan, Fujian Province has implemented a nucleic acid spot check policy since October last year. The policy requires schools to spot check 10 percent of students who return to campus every 15 days so all students will be tested after five months.

"The resurgence of COVID-19 in Fujian this time was detected because of such policy in the schools. It played a crucial role in containing the virus spread," said Wan, adding that the ministry advocates the practice of such tests elsewhere in China.

(With input from Xinhua)

Read more: 120 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in Fujian since September 10