Hundreds of flights cancelled amid new COVID outbreak in Southern China, strict curbs imposed

Beijing: Hundreds of flights have been cancelled and part of a city is under lockdown in Southern China as the province of Guangdong witnesses a rise in COVID-19 cases.

Guangdong's health commission reported a total of six new Covid-19 cases on Saturday (June 19), including two from Shenzhen and one each in Foshan and Dongguan, South China Morning Post reported.

The other cases were in the provincial capital Guangzhou and identified among the quarantined close contacts of previously confirmed patients. Among the new cases, one is a 21-year-old waitress working in a restaurant at Shenzhen Airport.

According to the authorities, she has contracted the Delta strain of the virus. The authorities have ordered 110 of the woman`s close contacts to be quarantined.

The case has resulted in the cancellation of over 460 flights. Along with that, most of the shops and restaurants at the airport have been closed.

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The second patient in the city is a 35-year-old Dongguan resident who works in Shenzhen. His case was confirmed on Friday (June 18) while his 30-year-old wife was confirmed on the same day in Dongguan.

Shenzhen has reported a total of 430 local cases and 110 imported cases since the outbreak began. The authorities have ramped up the efforts to control the coronavirus. Tens of million viral screenings have been done.

Dongguan has closed off 13 parts of the city visited by suspected cases and screened about 2.5 million people from five Dongguan townships and districts.

Strict traffic controls will be imposed at transport hubs to prevent crowds from gathering and passengers must present a green health code before boarding public transport, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

There will be large-scale testing across Dongguan and anybody leaving the city will have to have had a negative test within the previous 48 hours. Organizers of conferences and other gatherings are encouraged to move events online.

Meanwhile, in Foshan, an 83-year-old man was confirmed with the coronavirus after 13 days of no local cases in the city.

Authorities in Guangzhou are gradually relaxing previously imposed lockdown measures but health officials warned that there was no room for complacency. Chen Bin, deputy director of Guangzhou`s health commission, said there was still a risk of a community outbreak even though the latest confirmed cases were all in hotel quarantine. 

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