The 74th press conference on Guangdong's fight against COVID-19 was held in Guangzhou today (March 22). Guangdong released arrangements for virus-prevention, tomb-seeping activities during the Tomb-Sweeping Festival and updated information about vaccination.

Four groups of people are not allowed to participate in the tomb-sweeping activities, including those who have travel history from foreign countries, Hong Kong or Taiwan within the last 14 days; those who have travel history from domestic medium- and high-risk areas within 14 days; close contacts who have observed a 14-day quarantine within seven days; those who have acute respiratory symptoms such as fever and cough.

(Photo: Zhang Ruilin)

Nucleic acid test results will not be needed when returning to hometown

According to Huang Fei, Deputy Director-General of the Health Commission of Guangdong Province, citizens who want to return to their hometown and worship their ancestors during the Tomb-Sweeping Festival do not need to provide nucleic acid test results as national epidemic is under stable control and Guangdong belongs to low-risk areas.

Appropriate on-site tomb-sweeping activities are allowed, but online reservation, staggered worship times and other measures to minimize population density, and reduce gathering sizes are recommended.

Indoor public sweeping places should be cleaned and disinfected and employees there should observe health monitoring. Citizens who enter public sweeping places should go through a body temperature test and wear a mask. If any local COVID-19 cases happen during the holiday, medium- and high-risk areas must suspend on-site sweeping activities.

Citizens still need to pay attention to personal protection during the Festival, wash hands often and wear masks especially when taking public transportation, entering densely populated or poorly ventilated places, visiting hospitals or if experiencing any respiratory symptoms.

3.32 million people have been vaccinated in Guangdong

As of March 21, a total of 3.32 million people have been vaccinated for COVID-19 in Guangdong.

According to Huang Fei, Guangdong will arrange the following groups of people to get a vaccine in order. The first step is to vaccinate people at higher risk of occupational exposure, people at risk of infection abroad, and people in key positions to maintain the basic operation of society, which has been finished. The second step is to vaccinate people aged 18-59 and then people aged 60 and above, patients with underlying diseases, and people who have a willingness to get vaccinated.

In the first half of this year, Guangdong will finish the vaccination of the first group of people, and gradually vaccinate all other groups.

The vaccination of latter two groups of people will be divided into two categories according to the geographical scope. At the port area, the vaccination of people aged 18-59 will be conducted by the county (city or district) where the port is located; at the non-port area, people at higher risk of disease transmission, such as those working in the service industry, labor-intensive industries, students of universities, and staff of various schools will be vaccinated.

For some elderly people who need to be vaccinated for special reasons and are in good health, and other people who need priority vaccination, vaccination can also be carried out at this stage.

Author|Abby

Editor|Will, Jerry