Guangzhou sees slight drop in new cases

The growth in new local COVID-19 infections in Guangzhou, Guangdong province appeared to slow slightly on Saturday.

A total of 200 new confirmed local COVID-19 patients and 8,234 new local asymptomatic carriers were reported, both fewer than the sums from the previous day.

Haizhu district, the worst hit in this outbreak, reported 8,205 new infections, said Zhang Yi, deputy director of the city's health commission, at a news conference on Sunday.

The willingness of residents for vaccination against the novel coronavirus has also grown significantly. Since December 2020, 22.06 million people in the city had been vaccinated, 14.7 million of which had received their booster shot.

However, vaccination among people above 60 needs to be increased. More than 110,000 elderly people in that age bracket had not received their first shot and over 220,000 elderly people had not received a booster shot.

Offline classes at primary and high schools in Panyu district will resume in the coming week. Offline classes at schools in the districts of Huadu, Conghua and Nansha would continue and those in seven other districts would remain suspended, said Chen Xueming, deputy director of the Guangzhou Education Bureau.