Flights cancelled and districts locked down amid fresh coronavirus cases in southern China

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled and part of a city locked down in southern China as the coastal province of Guangdong tries to stamp out transmission of the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Guangdong’s health commission reported a total of six new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, including two from Shenzhen and one each in Foshan and Dongguan. The other cases were in the provincial capital Guangzhou and identified among the quarantined close contacts of previously confirmed patients.

One of the cases is a 21-year-old waitress working at a restaurant at Shenzhen Baoan International Airport and infected with the Delta strain, a variant described as fast-spreading, with a high viral load and a short incubation period.

The Shenzhen Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said the viral samples taken from the woman were identical to those taken from three imported cases as well as an earlier identified case on Monday. Authorities ordered 110 of the woman’s close contacts to be quarantined.

The case also prompted the airport to cancel more than 460 flights as of Friday night and step up controls at the facility.

Most of the shops and restaurants at the airport have been closed and anybody entering the facility must present a negative result from a test taken within the previous 48 hours.

The second patient confirmed in Shenzhen is a 35-year-old Dongguan resident who works in Shenzhen. His case was confirmed on Friday while his 30-year-old wife was confirmed on the same day in Dongguan. 

Shenzhen has reported a total of 430 local cases and 110 imported cases since the outbreak began. 

The outbreak started several weeks ago when a 75-year-old woman from Liwan district in Guangzhou was infected with the Delta strain.

While authorities try to determine the source of the infection, health workers have conducted tens of millions of viral screenings and imposed extreme lockdown measures to stop the virus from spreading further. 

Dongguan has closed off 13 parts of the city visited by suspected cases and screened about 2.5 million people from five Dongguan townships and districts.

Strict traffic controls will be imposed at transport hubs to prevent crowds from gathering and passengers must present a green health code before boarding public transport, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Government officials, corporates, schools and travel agencies should take the lead to comply with the requirement to stay put in the city unless it was “absolutely necessary”, the report said.

There will be large-scale testing across Dongguan and anybody leaving the city will have to have had a negative test within the previous 48 hours.

Organisers of conferences and other gatherings are encouraged to move events online.

Meanwhile in Foshan, a 83-year-old man was confirmed with the coronavirus after 13 days of no local cases in the city. 

Authorities in Guangzhou are gradually relaxing previously imposed lockdown measures but health officials warned that there was no room for complacency. 

Chen Bin, deputy director of Guangzhou’s health commission, said there was still a risk of a community outbreak even though the latest confirmed cases were all in hotel quarantine.

Chen said some people cleared after 14 days in quarantine tested positive upon release.

He cautioned against a complete relaxation of lockdown measures and said residents in locked down areas would be tested repeatedly to prevent a rebound in cases.