Guangzhou concentrates containment efforts in hard-hit district

Highly concentrated efforts will be made to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in Haizhu district of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, as a continued rise of infections has been reported there, according to a local health official.

"We will allocate resources at all levels to tackle the pandemic in Haizhu, which is hardest hit by the latest outbreak," said Zhang Yi, deputy director and spokeswoman of the Guangzhou Health Commission.

In a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, Zhang said most new infections in recent days were concentrated in high-risk areas of Haizhu.

On Tuesday alone, Haizhu reported 6,060 of the city's 6,296 new infections, of which 17 were found at community level.

New infections were still mostly found in the district's Kanglu area, an urban village with narrow building spaces and poor ventilation.

"Sporadic cases were also reported in subdistricts of Huazhou, Nanzhou, Chigang and Jianghai, indicating the epidemic situation in Haizhu is still complex and severe," she said.

Some 4,600 medical workers, along with community workers and volunteers, were organized on Tuesday to travel to Haizhu and other high-risk areas in the city to conduct door-to-door nucleic acid sampling.

"They worked very hard – climbing stairs and visiting each family in the risk areas, with all efforts aiming to detect infections and block the community transmission chain as soon as possible," she said.

Nucleic acid testing is the most effective way to ensure timely detection of infected people and transmission risk, Zhang said.

Some 176,900 nucleic acid samples have been collected in high-risk areas in the district, after medical workers and volunteers conducted door-to-door sampling on Tuesday, according to Fu Xiaochu, deputy district head of Haizhu.

"Screening in a classified way in high-risk areas will help us detect infections more quickly and accurately," he said.

According to Fu, operation of a makeshift hospital in the district's Pazhou area had been running smoothly, with a fast response mechanism for transportation, necessities and environmental protection already being built.

Inside the makeshift hospital, which was put into operation mainly for treatment of asymptomatic carriers on Nov 4, nearly 80,000 meals are offered each day, according to Fu.

"Catering time and meals are also constantly optimized, with children infected with the virus being offered specialized meals," he said.