Chikungunya has swept through southern China in recent weeks, primarily in the manufacturing hub of Foshan on the Pearl River Delta, with cases rising to more than 8,000, marking the largest outbreak ever recorded in the country, according to Roger Hewson, virus surveillance lead at the United Kingdom’s Wellcome Sanger Institute.

The outbreak of the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus continues to spread in southern China's Guangdong province, where local authorities have reported more than 7,700 infections as of Wednesday. Most cases have been concentrated in the city of Foshan,