China’s National Health Commission (NHC) reported on Monday that there had been no additional local coronavirus cases that day—the first such day since the Delta variant was first identified within the country. 

On July 20, a cluster of coronavirus cases were reported in Nanjing, an eastern Chinese city, where a group of airport maintenance workers became infected with the highly contagious Delta variant. By the time the infections were reported, the virus had spread, with more than twelve hundred cases reported around the country, according to CNN.  

China’s stringent response, in which tens of millions of Chinese citizens were commanded by their local authorities to remain indoors and agree to contact tracing, appears to have largely contained the spread of the virus. Additional cases nationwide had decreased to single digits during the second week of August, down from around one hundred new cases per day at the beginning of the month.

While twenty-one additional coronavirus cases were reported on Monday via “imported cases”—travelers who entered the country and were quarantined—no local cases were reported for the first time since July 16, prior to the delta variant outbreak. On the same day, the NHC reported sixteen asymptomatic cases, which are recorded separately and not included in the official measurement of cases.  

China is one of a handful of countries—including Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore—that have largely eliminated the coronavirus within its borders. All of these countries have instituted stringent entry restrictions, including mandatory quarantines, as well as vigorous testing and contact tracing requirements within their own borders and effective vaccine rollouts.

These measures have allowed locals greater freedom from the virus but they are typically not sufficient to hold off the virus altogether while it remains in the rest of the world. Australia, which maintained one of the world’s lowest case rates in the spring and summer, has seen a considerable increase in cases following the spread of the Delta variant—leading to lockdowns in major cities, including Sydney and Canberra, the nation’s capital. 

In China, despite the low case rate, the government has indicated it will continue its harsh restrictions. A CCTV report on Monday warned that, while the case rate was low, the virus had not gone from the country, and safety measures were still necessary to contain the pandemic. As part of this, the country has also administered nearly two billion vaccines or around 1.35 vaccines for each of the nation’s inhabitants. 

Trevor Filseth is a current and foreign affairs writer for the National Interest.