Coronavirus outbreak in neighbouring Fujian province force Canton Fair to be cut to just 5 days

Name: New Covid-19 outbreak in China’s Fujian province appears to be linked to Delta variant
Uploaded: 2021-09-14T10:15:22.000Z
Duration: 2 min 13 s
Description: New Covid-19 outbreak in China’s Fujian province appears to be linked to Delta variant

The biannual Canton Fair, which has been held since 1957, will resume in person activities from October 15, but will now only last five days

Across Fujian province, 60 new infections were reported on Monday, bringing the total number to 135

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Across Fujian province, 60 new infections were reported on Monday, bringing the total number to 135. Photo: AFP

He Huifeng

Published: 6:15pm, 14 Sep 2021Updated: 10:55pm, 14 Sep 2021

China’s largest trade fair has been cut to just five days from 15 days following the recent coronavirus outbreaks in southern China.

The biannual Canton Fair in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, which has been held since 1957, will resume in person activities from October 15 after holding the past three events online, but outbreaks in the neighbouring southeastern province of Fujian have forced organisers to cut the number of days, the State Council confirmed on Monday.

A limited number of China-based exporters and buyers will be allowed to attend in person, although the scale of the event has been drastically reduced from nearly 1.2 million square metres (13 million sq ft) to just 400,000 square metres.

Some 7,500 exhibitors, mainly representing domestic companies, are expected to attend, down from over 20,000 in previous years.

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New Covid-19 outbreak in China’s Fujian province appears to be linked to Delta variant

All attendees must have received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine 15 days before the start of the fair, while they also must present a negative test result obtained within no more than 48 hours when arriving in Guangdong. During the fair, all attendees will also be asked to be tested twice every three days.

On Monday, residents of Xiamen in China’s southeastern Fujian province went into lockdown after 32 infections were identified. Across the province, 60 new infections were reported on Monday, bringing the total number to 135.

More than 186,000 buyers from across the world attended the 126th session of the fair in October 2019, before the pandemic, with 45 per cent from countries taking part in the Belt and Road Initiative. The top three countries and regions by attendance were Hong Kong, the United States and India.