China on Friday completed the tunneling of the Caiyuanba Yangtze River Railway Tunnel, the country's first high-speed rail tunnel running under the Yangtze River.
The tunnel, stretching 11,942 meters in length, passes beneath urban roads, elevated bridges, existing rail lines and the river's main shipping channel. Its successful completion overcame significant geological and engineering challenges.
The progress marks a major milestone in the construction of the high-speed railway linking Chongqing Municipality in southwest China and the coastal city of Xiamen in east China's Fujian Province.
By linking the Chengdu-Chongqing, Chongqing-Xiamen and Zhengzhou-Chongqing high-speed rail lines, the tunnel enables the convergence of two major trunk routes, the Chongqing-Xiamen corridor and the Yangtze River corridor, in downtown Chongqing.
The project will further improve the city's high-speed rail network and promote regional connectivity and coordinated economic development, according to the railway authorities.
China completes first high-speed rail tunnel under Yangtze River
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) said Tuesday that it has reported more than 10,000 confirmed Ebola cases since the outbreak began in May, according to data released Tuesday by the country's health authorities.
The latest report showed that the country had recorded a total of 10,060 confirmed cases, including 4,887 deaths, as of Oct. 25, with a case fatality rate of 48.6 percent.
The outbreak has affected 66 health zones across eight of the DRC's 26 provinces.
The eastern province of Ituri remained the epicenter, accounting for 71.7 percent of all confirmed cases, the report said.
The current outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, was declared in the DRC on May 15. It has since spread to five countries, including four in Africa. The other three are Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria. France reported one imported case.
Unlike the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, the Bundibugyo virus has no approved vaccine or specific treatment.
The current Ebola outbreak has become the largest and deadliest ever recorded in the DRC and the second-largest Ebola outbreak globally, after the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic.
Ebola cases top 10,000 in DR Congo
