As of midnight of April 7th, Guangdong had reported 2 new imported COVID-19 cases, with 1 case in Shenzhen (arriving from the U.S.) and 1 case in Foshan (arriving from Nigeria).

Guangzhou reported 1 new case who has had close contact with a previous imported case in Kuangquan Street. Heyuan reported 1 new suspected case, discovered at the quarantine site.

5 asymptomatic cases were reported, with 2 in Guangzhou, 2 in Dongguan and 1 in Shenzhen.

As of 12:00 April 8th, Guangdong had reported 1,536 cases in total, 1,421 of which are patients who have recovered. The province reported 175 imported cases.

The 51st press conference on Guangdong's fight against COVID-19 was held in Guangzhou today.

The 51st press conference on Guangdong's fight against COVID-19 was held in Guangzhou today. (Photo: Cao Yaqin)

Wuhan lifted outbound travel restrictions today after almost 11 weeks of total lockdown.

According to Zhou Zixiao, Deputy Director-General of Guangdong Health Commission, there are an estimated 100,000 people set to return to Guangdong from Wuhan. Guangdong will strengthen health management of these people, requiring them to declare their health condition for at least three days.

“All the people coming to Guangdong from Wuhan with a red or yellow ‘Hubei Health Code’ should undergo nucleic acid testing and a 14-day medical observation at designated venue”, said Zhou. “Those who do have not got a nucleic acid test report conducted in the last 7 days will be tested at designated medical institutions on the same day of their arrival.” (In the fight against the Coronavirus, China is applying a three-colour health code system on mobile phones. Green means a user is symptom-free, red means a user is confirmed to be infected, yellow means a user has had contact with an infected person)

“We suggest all the people coming to Guangdong from Wuhan take another nucleic acid test after 7 days,” Zhou added.

According to Peng Yucai, an expert in vaccine research and development, Guangdong has achieved periodical progress in developing a vaccine against COVID-19. Peng explains that the rats and monkeys given mRNA and adenovirus vaccines have produced high levels of antibodies.

Authors: Steven & Zoey (intern)

Editors: Simon & Keane