As of 24:00, March 9th, Guangdong had confirmed 1 new case, pushing the total number of infected patients to 1353.

According to the Dongguan Health Commission, the patient has been transferred to Ninth People’s Hospital for quarantine and treatment. The authority has traced 6 close contacts so far and quarantined them for medical observation.

The patient took flight CX320 from Madrid to Hong Kong at 11:30 on March 7th and arrived at Hong Kong International Airport at 7:00 on March 8th. She took a taxi arriving at Shenzhen Bay Port at 9:00. She had been wearing a mask throughout the process and showed no temperature abnormalities when entering the port. Then the staff of the port collected her samples for lab testing and reminded her to pay attention to her health before letting her enter Shenzhen.

Shenzhen Bay Port (Photo: Zhu Hongbo)

The Shenzhen Health Commission announced at 3:30 on March 9th that her samples had reported positive for the coronavirus. A chartered ambulance then picked her up and sent her to Dongcheng Hospital for medical observation. CT results indicated an infection in her lungs. She was transferred to the Ninth People’s Hospital at 11:00 for treatment and tested positive for COVID-19 at 14:00.

Thus far, the patient shows no symptoms such as a raise in temperature and her condition remains stable. The epidemic control department has disinfected her apartment and the areas that she has been to.

A total of 18 cities have reported no new cases of COVID-19 over the last 14 consecutive days, and 10 cities have zero COVID-19 patients being treated in hospitals with all having been confirmed healthy and discharged, according to Zhou Zixiao, Deputy Director-General of Guangdong Health Commission.

The 40th press conference on Guangdong's fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) was held in Guangzhou today.

The 40th press conference on Guangdong's fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) was held in Guangzhou today.

Lei Biao, Secretary of the CPC Leading Group of Guangdong Fedration of Industry and Commerce, highlighted that the province’s private enterprises have made donations worth of about 5.5 billion RMB for the epidemic control and prevention, playing an important role in Guangdong’s fight against COVID-19.

“Dozens of private enterprises based in Guangdong including Huawei and Galanz participated in the construction of Huoshenshan and Leishenshan hospitals in Wuhan,” Lei said, “Some other enterprises have taken the initiative, transforming their workshops to produce masks, disinfectant and more.”

“For example, vehicle manufacturer BYD’s daily production capacity on masks has reached 5 million pieces,” Lei added.

Xie Hong, president of the Guangdong Council for the Promotion of Development of Small and Medium Enterprises, stressed that the epidemic has had a great impact on the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but has also contributed to the innovation and transformation of these businesses.

“Of around 200 enterprises surveyed, two thirds believe the epidemic will push SMEs to innovate in terms of their business patterns or products,” Xie said.

Authors: Monica Liu, Jasmine Yin, Steven Yuen, Zoey Huang (intern)

Editors: Simon Haywood, Keane Wong