BEIJING -- China has seen over 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered nationwide, a health official told a press conference Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the pandemic keeps spreading across the world, with the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases rising for eight weeks in a row, said Mi Feng, spokesperson for the National Health Commission.

There were 5.26 million new cases reported globally last week, the highest weekly rise since the outbreak of the coronavirus, Mi said.

As new variants of the virus continue to emerge, China still faces challenges in preventing imported cases and domestic resurgence, he added.