China's top epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan said that the country will contain the latest surge of COVID-19 cases within a month.

Zhong made the remarks during a webinar attended by medical professionals on Saturday. Sporadic local COVID-19 cases have been reported in 14 provinces across the country over the last two weeks.

"The coronavirus and the pandemic cannot be eradicated within a short period of time," said Zhong, calling on countries to adopt strict and prioritized measures against COVID-19 and actively roll out vaccination.

Zhong said he expects that more than 80 percent of the Chinese residents will be fully vaccinated by the end of this year.