Covid-19 in China: Guangdong officials strike upbeat tone over latest outbreak

Officials say that the situation is ‘moving in a good direction’ but further cases cannot yet be ruled out as the province battles the Delta strain

Two districts of the provincial capital Guangzhou remain in lockdown, but no new cases were reported in neighbouring cities such as Shenzhen and Foshan

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Workers in protective clothing deliver food to residents locked down in Guangzhou. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:12pm, 11 Jun 2021

Health officials in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong signalled on Friday that the battle against the current Covid-19 outbreak may have turned a corner.

Guangzhou’s first known patient, a 75-year-old woman from the hard-hit Liwan district, was discharged from hospital on Thursday, but nine new cases were added on Friday – bringing the total tally to 128, including seven asymptomatic carriers.

By Friday, only two neighbourhoods in the hard-hit Liwan district remained under lockdown as the city tries to stop the spread of the highly infectious Delta strain, which first emerged in India.

Xu Qingfeng, deputy head of the Guangdong Health Commission, told a press conference that no new cases have been found in cities such as Shenzhen, Foshan and Maoming, and the new cases discovered in Guangzhou came from the locked down areas.

“The epidemic situation in Guangzhou is easing and moving in a good direction, but the possibility of sporadic cases cannot be ruled out,” Xu said.

He said Guangzhou has administered 32 million tests with a further 10 million carried out in Foshan to screen out hidden carriers.