Covid-19 in China: Shenzhen truck driver among 28 new cases across six cities

Driver delivering to Man Kam To control point with Hong Kong is first from Shenzhen among 18 cross-border truckers testing positive this month

Locked-down city of Baise reports 12 cases and Huludao 11, while Tianjin, fresh from an Omicron outbreak, imposes area lockdown after detecting one

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Trucks head to Man Kam To Control Point in Sheung Shui, in Hong Kong’s New Territories. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 4:13pm, 13 Feb 2022Updated: 6:29pm, 13 Feb 2022

A cross-border truck driver in China’s southern tech hub of Shenzhen has tested positive for Covid-19, as six cities across the country reported 28 confirmed cases on Sunday.

According to Shenzhen authorities, the 35-year-old man had been delivering goods to the Man Kam To Control Point leading to Hong Kong’s northern New Territories. The checkpoint is a major gateway for fresh foods – including vegetables, meat and fish – from the mainland to the special administrative region. As much as 92 per cent of Hong Kong’s fresh vegetables come from the mainland.

The driver was tested daily since resuming work after a Lunar New Year break on February 5. He had tested preliminary positive on Friday, and the case was confirmed on Saturday, a government notice said.

The latest infection brings to 18 the total number of cross-border truck drivers who have tested positive this month in Shenzhen, 17 of them from Hong Kong. Three of the Hong Kong drivers were being treated in Shenzhen, while the rest had returned, the notice said.

In a statement on Sunday, the Hong Kong government said “supplies of vegetables and chilled poultry will be affected to a certain extent today due to the redeployment of mainland goods vehicle drivers”, and that Hong Kong and mainland authorities were “working closely” to bring the supply situation back to normal soon.

This comes as Hong Kong grapples with its most serious Covid-19 wave of the pandemic, logging more than 1,000 confirmed daily cases for two days. The crisis has prompted thousands of residents to flock to the Shenzhen Bay border crossing in a bid to escape the rising wave of infections and tightening restrictions, despite mandatory hotel quarantine on the other side.