Coronavirus cases prompt shutdown of Shenzhen Hema supermarkets
- Guangdong province swings into rapid action testing, sanitising and isolating to shut down potential new outbreak
- Chinese infectious disease expert Zhong Nanshan says new cases are related to Hema supermarkets but route of infection is not yet known
On Friday, a dairy salesperson who works at a Shenzhen Hema supermarket – a chain owned by Alibaba, which also owns the South China Morning Post – was confirmed to have Covid-19 at her hometown in Lufeng. Shenzhen then launched large-scale disease tracking and prevention and found two new asymptomatic cases on Saturday. All three staff worked at the Shuibei Hema supermarket in Luohu district.
Tests have been conducted at stores throughout the province and 21 Hema supermarkets in Shenzhen have been shut for testing and sanitising. All further tests on people and product samples have returned negative, the Guangdong provincial government said on Sunday.
As of 6pm Sunday, Shenzhen had collected 83,413 nucleic samples, including from 5,553 staff members at 21 Hema supermarkets and two storage facilities, as well as extensive environmental and product samples, the local health commission said on Sunday. So far, all the human and sample test results were negative.
The two infected staff members were sent to the Shenzhen No 3 People’s Hospital for quarantine and treatment, and their homes had been sanitised and neighbours put under close monitoring, the health commission said.
Hema issued a public notice on Saturday, saying it had closed all 21 stores to disinfect the premises and test staff.
The Shenzhen government has also provided free large-scale nucleic testing to residents living near the Hema shop, expected to be completed within three days. Residents who had bought products from the Luohu Hema shop or visited since August 1 can also get a free nucleic test.