BEIJING -- A Chinese health official on April 21 called for continuous efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 through imported cases as the number of patients around the globe keeps rising.

The newly added COVID-19 cases worldwide have been on the upswing for eight consecutive weeks and 5.26 million new cases were reported last week, Mi Feng, a spokesperson for the National Health Commission, told a press conference.

Mi also vowed to step up COVID-19 vaccinations in China and called on the public to strengthen individual protection against the virus.

China has seen over 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered nationwide.