COVID-19 Cases Soar, Guangdong Lockdown Guangzhou And Foshan

JAKARTA - The Guangdong Provincial Authority has decided to lock down settlements and streets, as well as impose a provision for showing a negative COVID-19 test result in several cities in its territory

This is done in line with the increase in cases of COVID-19 infection, after 10 locally confirmed cases in China yesterday, all in southern Guangdong. Seven cases are in the provincial capital Guangzhou, the other three are in Foshan.

As China's manufacturing and export hub, Guangzhou has continued to work to control the new wave of COVID-19 that has occurred since late May. Guangzhou has reported 41 locally confirmed cases between May 21 and June 1 and six cases in Foshan.

Both cities have ordered home quarantines for residents in some neighborhoods, and asked people traveling by air, train or long-distance travel to present evidence of a negative COVID-19 test within three days.

"The spike in infection cases led city residents without vaccine promises to flock to COVID-19 vaccination sites. 'Severe' crowding occurred in some places," regional disease control official Zhang Zhoubin said.

All individual vaccination schedules were cancelled, to be replaced with vaccinations for priority groups to receive vaccinations first.

Earlier, a city health official said the infection in Guangzhou involved a fast-spreading variant that was first detected in India. Meanwhile, authorities are still investigating the source of the outbreak.

Separately, the Shenzhen tech hub, also in Guangdong, reported two new local asymptomatic infections on Tuesday, bringing the tally to 15 asymptomatic cases in the city since May 21.

The Shenzhen outbreak was unrelated to Guangzhou, where officials suspect the virus was carried by port workers, with 11 infections involving the variant spreading in the UK.

As a precaution, Shenzhen Airport has required travelers departing with identity documents from Guangzhou or Foshan to show a negative result of a coronavirus test taken within three days of travel.

For information, China reported 24 new coronavirus cases on June 1, up from 23 cases the day before, and 19 new asymptomatic cases, up from 15 the previous day. China does not classify asymptomatic infections as confirmed cases.

Launching Worldometers, China now has 91,146 total cases of COVID-19, of which a total of 86,164 recovered patients, 346 active cases and the death toll remains at 4,636.