Shenzhen Warns Against Large Gatherings

THE COVID-19 Prevention and Control Headquarters of Shenzhen has called on relevant organizations and enterprises to forgo large gatherings or to keep gatherings small during the upcoming New Year holiday and the Spring Festival, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.

It is urged that this winter and next spring are the critical periods of pandemic prevention and control and that vigilance should not be relaxed amid sporadic outbreaks in the country and imported cases.

According to the city’s pandemic control authorities, in principal, Party and government organs, institutions and State-owned enterprises in the city are not advised to hold large gatherings during the holidays, and are encouraged to adopt video conferencing.

If the gatherings are indeed necessary, the number of attendees and the scale of the gatherings should be strictly controlled, the authorities said.

Meanwhile, the public are reminded not to leave Shenzhen and should not go to medium and high-risk areas as far as possible.

The headquarters also encouraged relevant organizations and enterprises to mobilize migrant workers to spend the holidays in Shenzhen and ensure that their salaries are paid in full and on time.

As the winter holiday approaches, the headquarters pointed out that schools should keep consistent and proper cleaning and disinfection of surfaces in classrooms, libraries, reading rooms, canteens, dormitories and other key places, and ensure the supply of anti-pandemic materials.

During the winter holiday, school staff and students should stay in Shenzhen in principle and should report to their school in advance if leaving the city is necessary, the headquarters said. 

No sample test positive following new COVID case

A TOTAL of 1,733 people undergone nucleic acid tests in Shenzhen after a new asymptomatic COVID-19 case detected in a resident returning from Beijing was reported in the city on Sunday morning. None of those tested positive as of 6 p.m. Monday, according to the city’s health commission.

The new asymptomatic case is a 27-year-old male living in Bao’an District. All residents living in the same building as the patient have been isolated for observation and nucleic acid tests have been conducted.

As of 9 a.m. Monday, the nucleic acid results of 1,733 close contacts, residents and related personnel were all confirmed negative.

Nucleic acid test results were also negative in five surface samples of the consultation room, reception, elevator buttons and cash register in the hospital where the patient had been.

Additionally, 49 surface samples of the patient’s apartment, elevator and corridor, and four surface samples of the taxi the patient had taken were all negative.

So far, a total of 92 close contacts of the patient have been tracked, among whom 56 are in Shenzhen and all of them have been isolated for medical observation, according to the city’s health authorities.