As of April 1st, Guangdong had reported 6 new imported cases, all of which are in Guangzhou (2 arrived from Nigeria, the remainder arrived from the US, the UK, Ireland and Malaysia, respectively), according to the 50th press conference on Guangdong's fight against COVID-19 today.

As of 12:00 April 2nd, Guangdong had reported 1508 cases in total, 1368 of which were recovered. The province had reported 155 imported cases, with 132 patients still undergoing treatment in hospital.

Guangdong began releasing a daily report on asymptomatic cases on April 1st. The province is now shifting focus to the control of asymptomatic cases with the same measures applied to other confirmed cases. It was January 20th, when the first asymptomatic case was reported.

“As of now, there has been no one reported as infected by asymptomatic cases in Guangdong,” said He Jianfeng, deputy director and chief expert of the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Zheng Jianrong, Director General of the Department of Commerce of Guangdong, pointed out that Guangdong has established a closed-loop management system to effectively stem the inflow and contain the further spread of COVID-19 cases by undertaking epidemiological checks on all inbound passengers, transferring passengers using chartered buses, and requiring all passengers to fill in a health declaration card.

Zheng said that all of Guangdong’s 21 cities have established 24-hour service spots at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport, Shenzhen Bay Port, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Port, Hengqin Port and Gongbei Port.

Over 1,000 buses and more than 9,000 staff members are working in 110 shifts around the clock to transfer inbound passengers in Guangdong, according to Zheng. As of now, around 70,000 passengers have been transferred.

As of April 1st, a total of 68,095 inbound passengers had been placed under quarantine for medical observation, among whom 47,536 are still within the 14 day quarantine period at designated venues.

Zheng stressed, “The province attaches great importance to offering individualized service to the passengers during quarantine. There are medics, translators and catering service workers at each designated venue.”

People over 70 years old and under 14 years old, pregnant women and those who have recently given birth, as well as patients who aren’t able to be quarantined at a designated venue will be managed on a case by case basis, Zheng added.

Authors: Monica, Will

Editors: Olivia, Nan, Simon