Guangzhou reports 7,365 new COVID-19 cases

On the afternoon of Nov 28, Guangzhou held a COVID-19 Prevention and Control Press Conference to brief the latest epidemic situation in the city.

On Nov 27, Guangzhou reported 7,365 locally acquired COVID-19 cases, among which 94 were found in communities. Meantime, 5,351 people were discharged from makeshift hospitals, among the total 23,398 discharged since the outbreak of this round of epidemic.  

Zhang Yi, deputy director general and spokesperson of the Guangzhou Health Commission, introduced that Haizhu district reported 6,920 new infections, and Jinzili area has become another key area with high transmission risks. Haizhu district is still facing a challenging and complex situation.

Zhang Zi, deputy director of the Guangzhou Municipal Transportation Bureau, said that since October, temporary adjustments have been made to more than 100 metro and tram stations and 1,452 bus routes. The Municipal Transportation Bureau also did a good job in resuming metro and bus services according to the adjustment or cancellation of relevant risk areas and temporary lockdown areas. He also reminded citizens to pay attention to the epidemic situation and public transport adjustment information, and arrange their travels accordingly.

Huang Kaixuan, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Tianhe District Committee and Executive Deputy Head of Tianhe District, introduced that the epidemic situation in Tianhe District is severe and complex due to infections both in community clusters and in multiple individual places. At present, Tianhe district is pooling resources to tackle the cluster outbreaks in two key areas--Yuancun Subdistrict and Changxing Subdistrict, and firmly curbing the epidemic in Zhuji Subdistrict and Tangxia Subdistrict. Tianhe district is moving fast to designate risk areas and arrange one task team for one case. Meantime, it undertakes infection tracing, personnel management, PCR tests, and epidemiological investigation in order to effectively eliminate individual cases in Chebei Subdistrict and Tianyuan Subdistrict.

Huang Kaixuan introduced that Tianhe district guarantees supply of daily essentials through multiple channels, with a total of 2746.8 tons of goods in stock. The price of meat and vegetables in the whole district remains stable with a sufficient stock. Online teaching is organized in a well-paced manner for 175,000 primary and secondary school students, and closed-off management is implemented on campus for over 4,000 senior high school students, with an aim to guarantee learning despite suspension of classes. A 24-hour medical service hotline was opened and has successfully handled all of the 3,909 epidemic related work orders.

According to Su Mingqing, deputy head of Haizhu district, there are 456 high-risk areas and 17 low-risk areas in the district, where the epidemic takes a feature of concentrated outbreaks in high-risk areas and sporadic infections around these areas.

After the latest adjustment, the controlled zone in central Haizhu is narrowed down, the non-controlled zone in western Haizhu remains unchanged, and the non-controlled zone in eastern Haizhu is expanded. Besides, high-risk areas in the central controlled zone still sees concentrated outbreaks and the COVID-19 situation in this zone remains uncertain. Therefore, strengthened COVID-19 prevention and control measures there have been extended to 24:00 on Dec 2. Su also noted that checkpoints on the borders between the central controlled zone and the eastern and western non-controlled zones are still in place and cross-zone movement is not available yet.

Su said that Haizhu district is organizing residents in high-risk areas to create "COVID-free communities" and "COVID-free grids" and is relocating people in lockdown areas who are willing and eligible to be relocated in an orderly manner. The district has contacted with six province-level chambers of commerce and eight municipality/county level chambers of commerce and shared information with them. With sufficient organization and notification, the district provides relocated people with closed-loop transference by chartered bus, coach, and high-speed railway. Before boarding, each person will go through an antigen test and receive a supply package. On Nov 27, ten relocation coaches set off from Datang areas. By now, 1,555 people have been relocated.

Moreover, Haizhu district is progressing work and production resumption among enterprises in non-high-risk areas in the central controlled zone, according to Su. With the application certificate of the "group code," COVID-19 prevention and control and emergency response plans, a commitment letter for performing the primary responsibility of COVID-19 prevention and control, a "white list" of employees, and a closed-loop management plan, enterprises can submit their application online for closed-loop production.

"Success belongs to the persevering and by persevering we will succeed," said Su. He thanked residents for supporting, understanding, and cooperating with the epidemic prevention and control efforts and said, "By joining hands and staying confident, we will win this combat against COVID-19."