Flights cancelled and districts locked down amid fresh coronavirus cases in southern China
- Shenzhen airport steps up precautions after restaurant waitress identified with highly transmissible Delta variant
- Dongguang introduces strict limits on movement to prevent spread of pathogen
Guangdong’s health commission reported a total of six new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, including two from Shenzhen and one each in Foshan and Dongguan. The other cases were in the provincial capital Guangzhou and identified among the quarantined close contacts of previously confirmed patients.
One of the cases is a 21-year-old waitress working at a restaurant at Shenzhen Baoan International Airport and infected with the Delta strain, a variant described as fast-spreading, with a high viral load and a short incubation period.
The Shenzhen Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said the viral samples taken from the woman were identical to those taken from three imported cases as well as an earlier identified case on Monday. Authorities ordered 110 of the woman’s close contacts to be quarantined.
The case also prompted the airport to cancel more than 460 flights as of Friday night and step up controls at the facility.
Most of the shops and restaurants at the airport have been closed and anybody entering the facility must present a negative result from a test taken within the previous 48 hours.