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

Coronavirus pandemic

Ji Siqiin Beijing

Published: 4:13pm, 13 Feb 2022

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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.

“The pressure of preventing imported cases is building up … The city has strictly implemented relevant management and services in accordance with the guidelines for pandemic prevention and control for cross-border truck drivers,” the Shenzhen government notice said.

03:43

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Meanwhile, the city of Baise in neighbouring Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, one of the epicentres of the current wave of coronavirus outbreaks in the mainland, reported 12 new cases. Provincial capital Nanning reported one case.

Baise, on the border with Vietnam, has been under strict lockdown since Monday, with its 3.6 million residents banned from leaving their homes except for mass testing, unless they hold permits as essential workers. Schools are shut, public transport suspended and most businesses closed.

Also on the Vietnam border, Malipo county in southwestern Yunnan province reported two confirmed new cases. It also detected one asymptomatic case, which is not counted as “confirmed” under mainland protocols.

Emergency supplies for Baise being loaded at a railway station in Nanning on February 10. Photo: Xinhua

The pandemic situation also continued in the north of the country. Huludao in the northeastern province of Liaoning reported 11 new cases. Its more than 2.4 million residents have been ordered to stay put unless it is necessary for them to leave the city, and travellers must provide proof of a negative coronavirus test taken within 24 hours.

The outbreak in Huludao has so far spilled over to other cities, at least two of them outside Liaoning. The northern port city of Tianjin, fresh from an Omicron outbreak that started before the Lunar New Year, reported one new case – a returnee from Huludao who came in by train last week. The patient’s neighbourhood has been placed under lockdown.

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