Guangzhou starts new round of mass nucleic acid testing

City rushes to find possible infections to prevent situation from getting worse

A new mass nucleic acid testing campaign was launched in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, on Monday, with some districts having already gone through two to three rounds in order to discover possible COVID-19 infections.

The city's health commission said on Monday that it detected 27 new confirmed local cases and 11 asymptomatic carriers from 2 pm on Sunday to 6 pm on Monday. A total of 61 infections have been reported in the current outbreak since Friday.

The transmission chains of the latest COVID-9 outbreak in Guangzhou were clearly related to clusters in workplaces and family gatherings, according to the city's health commission.

Starting on Monday, all residents in Guangzhou have been asked not to leave the city unless absolutely necessary.

"Those who must leave Guangzhou for other cities are required to have a negative result from a nucleic acid test done within 48 hours of departure starting Monday," said Chen Bin, spokeswoman for the commission.

She also urged residents to go out less to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus in local communities.

In the city, all kindergartens, primary and middle schools, colleges and universities have temporarily suspended in-person classes as of Monday and students are required to take their courses online.

All restaurants in the city's Yuexiu and Haizhu districts are suspending dine-in services and only offer takeouts.

Wu Linbo, deputy director-general of the Guangzhou government, said construction of a new makeshift hospital in Pazhou International Convention and Exhibition Center in Guangzhou's Haizhu district－a precautionary measure to handle a possible surge of cases－is progressing.

The makeshift hospital is expected to be able to start operations in a week, Wu said.

He added the operations of major hospitals, medical institutions and medical services for the city's elderly residents, pregnant women, disabled persons and those in need will not be affected by the outbreak.

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