Guangdong Provincial Government held the 7th press conference regarding the fight against the coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Guangzhou today (Feb. 1st).

As of midday February 1st Guangdong has reported a total 535 confirmed cases. The city of Chaozhou, in the eastern part of Guangdong province, reported its first three confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.

Guangdong encourages residents to use online public services

(Photo: Nanfang Daily)

According to the press conference, Guangdong encourages residents to access public services online via Guangdong's digital government platform, including the official website of Guangdong government services (http://www.gdzwfw.gov.cn/, in Chinese), the mini-program "Yueshengshi (粤省事)" and the app "Yueshangtong (粤商通)".

These online platforms offer as many as over 800 thousand unique services. Residents can easily access the government services online and receive relevant certification by post. At present, the mini-program "Yueshengshi (粤省事)" provides services including driver's license application and services concerning social insurance and housing funds.

Moreover, residents can login through the "Yueshangtong (粤商通)" app and access over 400 services including company registration, investment project approval and corporate annual reporting.

Situation in Shenzhen is looking to stablize within a fortnight say experts

Over 1000 medical workers are now attending to infected patients in Shenzhen, and over 1000 additional hospital beds have been prepared, Wu Yihuan, Vice Mayor of Shenzhen announced.
 
At the press conference, Wu emphasized that as an immigration mega city, Shenzhen faces huge challenges. The government has carried out a series of measures to combat these challenges: Shenzhen No. 3 people’s hospital has been designated for infected patients, and two other hospitals have designated special areas for suspected cases. As of January 29th, 39 institutions in Shenzhen had obtained nucleic acid detection kits to help better diagnose patients.
 
As of 24:00, Jan. 31st, Shenzhen has reported a total 170 confirmed cases of coronavirus, 12 of which are deemed critical and 9 severe. 5 patients have been cured and discharged from hospital.

Experts project the situation is likely to stabilize within the next 2 weeks, Feng Tiejian, deputy director of Shenzhen Disease Control and Prevention Center announced at the press conference.

But since many people will return to Shenzhen for work, this prediction is still very much uncertain added Feng.

Guangzhou residents get free masks delivered

(Photo: Nanfang Plus)

This morning (Feb. 1st） residents in Guangzhou who successfully made reservations for masks were asked to provide their address and telephone number, so that the designated drugstores can send masks via delivery service, according to Nanfang Daily.

According to the notice this handful of residents will get their masks for free. This movement has been aimed at avoiding crowding outside pharmacies.

Residents in Guangzhou were allowed to make reservations online for masks starting Friday evening.

Authors: Nan, Will

Editors: Olivia, Simon