Coronavirus: Chinese province of Guangdong extends quarantine and urges people not to travel over Lunar New Year
- Those arriving from abroad will now have to spend a week at home after spending two weeks quarantined in designated hotels
- Local authorities urge people not to travel over the holiday period and limit gatherings to 10 people or fewer
The southern Chinese province of Guangdong has tightened its quarantine control measures to prevent imported cases of Covid-19 and taken steps to reduce the mass movement of people ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
Guangdong officials unveiled a raft of measures on Friday – from quarantine control to holiday arrangements – stressing that the province must stay vigilant.
Speaking at a press briefing, Huang Fei, deputy director of Guangdong Health Commission, said the province could not afford to let down its guard although it has not reported major outbreaks in recent weeks.
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“At the same time, multiple incidents of outbreaks happened in different parts of China and there are 51 areas in China classified as medium to high risk,” he added.
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Meanwhile, Guangzhou, the provincial capital, also reported a case of the more transmissible coronavirus strain.
Huang said Guangdong must keep imported cases to the minimum and has therefore added a further week of homestay surveillance to the 14-day quarantine at designated hotels required for overseas travellers.
The new rule, which was adopted on the last day of 2020, has been enforced in Shenzhen, on the border with Hong Kong, and now expanded to all entry points in the province.
Besides quarantine for overseas travellers, Huang said Guangdong has also stepped up domestic inoculation as a preventive measure to curb the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected just over 2,000 people in the province.
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“As of January 7, a total of 1.21 million people have been vaccinated in Guangdong province,” he said. Those who have received the jabs included high-priority groups such as cold chain food handlers, quarantine workers, border control and customs officials, cross-border truckers, medical personnel and grass roots epidemic officials.
“We will next focus on aviation, rail and other frontline staff responsible for transport in the Lunar New Year travel period,” Huang said.
“But vaccination is only an additional protective measure, and it is important that everyone must adopt personal protection, and don’t let down our guard.”
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Huang also urged the public to avoid travelling during the Lunar New Year holiday to reduce the risk of infection. Huang said people should not attend feasts and parties with more than 10 people.
Guangdong education officials also advised schools and universities to space out their holiday arrangements so that students who want to visit their families in other provinces will not need to travel at the same time.
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It is estimated that there are about 300,000 students from other provinces who are studying in Guangdong, and around 90,000 domestic and international students are likely to stay in the province over the holidays.
“[We advise that] teachers and students who come from places identified as high or medium risk should stay in school during the holiday,” said Qiu Kenan, an official of Guangdong education department.
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Zhao Wei, a professor at the school of public health at Southern Medical University, said China is in a much better position this year compared to last year.
“The overall situation during this Lunar New Year is much better than last year, definitely, because we know more about the virus and have developed a certain set of prevention and control measures,” Zhao said.
“Guangdong Centre of Disease Control and Prevention is also much more experienced and capable of making an effective response.
“But we cannot rely on vaccines to reduce the pressure of the potential epidemic in the upcoming travel season. We need to further observe the immunisation effect of the vaccines and the current observation period is short. We still need to rely on strict preventive and control measures.”
