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
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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.
On Sunday night, veteran Chinese infectious disease expert Zhong Nanshan said Guangdong had reacted quickly to the outbreak and he was confident the disease would not spread on a large scale.
“For local cases, we need to figure out three questions: where the origins are, are the cases imported or local; who had contact, which requires tracking; and how big the scale is, which requires extensive screening in certain areas,” he told provincial government-backed media outlet Southcn.com.
He said the rebound this time was related to the Hema markets, but it was not clear whether it was spread by people or through contact with contaminated food products.
“Based on the Beijing Xinfadi market cases, it might be more closely related to contaminated food products. We might need to be vigilant about that,” he said.
On Sunday, the Dalian government announced a full recovery of economic and social activities after local cases were found on July 22.
For Shenzhen residents, the new local cases posed more inconvenience than a health scare. They worry about the disease spreading and disrupting their travel plans if more restrictions are put in place.
“I’ve been stuck at home for most of the year. I really wanted to travel properly, but who could’ve known that it rebounded,” said Viola Zeng, a Shenzhen resident. “The October holiday will be the last long holiday this year.”
