Guangzhou
China closes Guangzhou to most arrivals as outbreak spreads
The manufacturing hub of Guangzhou closed itself to most arrivals Monday as China battles a major COVID-19 surge in its big eastern cities.
Shanghai has taken the brunt of the surge, with another 26,087 cases announced on Monday, only 914 of which showed symptoms. The city of 26 million is under a tight lockdown, with many residents confined to their homes for up to three weeks.
No such lockdown has yet been announced for Guangzhou, a metropolis of 18 million northwest of Hong Kong that is home to many top companies and China's busiest airport. Just 27 cases were reported in the city on Monday.
Also read:COVID outbreak 'extremely grim' as Shanghai extends lockdown
However, primary and middle schools have been switched to online after an initial 23 local infections were detected last week. An exhibition center was being converted into a makeshift hospital after authorities said earlier they would begin citywide mass testing.
Only citizens with a “definite need" to leave Guangzhou can do so, and only if they test negative for the virus within 48 hours of departure, city spokesperson Chen Bin said in a social media announcement.
China has stuck to its “zero-COVID” strategy of handling outbreaks with strict isolation and mass testing, despite complaints in Shanghai over shortages of food and medical services.
China's government and the entirely state-controlled media are growing increasingly defensive about complaints over the COVID-19 prevention measures, censoring content online and rebuking foreign critics.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Sunday said China had “lodged solemn representations with the U.S." after the State Department advised Americans to reconsider traveling to China due to “arbitrary enforcement” of local laws and COVID-19 restrictions, particularly in Hong Kong, Jilin province and Shanghai. U.S. officials cited a risk of “parents and children being separated.”
China was “strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to the U.S. side’s groundless accusation against China’s epidemic response,” Zhao said.
Despite that, and indications the hardline policy is being dictated by head of the ruling Communist Party Xi Jinping, China has rejected any notion that its response is political in nature. Xi has demanded social stability above all else in the runup to a key party congress later this year at which he is expected to bestow on himself an unprecedented third-term as party leader.
The English-language China Daily acknowledged that Shanghai's measures are “far from perfect," and pointed to the firing last week of three local officials for failing in their duties. But it said that shouldn't become an “excuse to politicize the event and blame China.”
Despite the large number of cases, no new deaths have been reported in the Shanghai wave, possibly because the omicron variant is less deadly than older variants.
Also read: China urges int'l community to do more for Mali's peace, stability
City authorities also say they have secured daily supplies for residents, following complaints about deliveries of food and other necessities.
Residents have resorted to group buying of groceries because they are not allowed to leave their buildings, with only partial success in obtaining needed items.
The capital Beijing has seen relatively few restrictions, although the Erjiefang neighborhood including the famed 798 art district has been cordoned off and classified as high risk after eight infections were reported there over the past two weeks.
China is facing one of its worst local outbreaks since the pandemic began. China is still mostly closed to international travel, even as most of the world has sought ways to live with the virus.
Chinese city locks down neighborhood after virus upsurge
The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou shut down a neighborhood and ordered its residents to stay home Saturday for door-to-door coronavirus testing following an upsurge in infections that has rattled authorities.
Guangzhou, a business and industrial center of 15 million people north of Hong Kong, has reported 20 new infections over the past week. The number is small compared with India’s thousands of daily cases but has alarmed Chinese authorities who believed they had the disease under control.
The spread of infections was “fast and strong,” the official Global Times newspaper cited health authorities as saying.
Saturday’s order to stay home applied to residents of five streets in Liwan District in the city center.
Outdoor markets, child care centers and entertainment venues were closed. Indoor restaurant dining was prohibited. Grade schools were told to stop in-person classes.
People in parts of four nearby districts were ordered to limit outdoor activity.
Read:Vietnam finds new virus variant, hybrid of India, UK strains
The city government earlier ordered testing of hundreds of thousands of residents following the initial infections. The government said some 700,000 people had been tested by Wednesday.
China reports a handful of new cases every day but says almost all are believed to be people who were infected abroad. The mainland’s official death toll stands at 4,636 out of 91,061 confirmed cases.
On Saturday, the National Health Commission reported two new locally transmitted cases in Guangzhou and 14 in other parts of the country that it said came from abroad.
Most of the latest infections in Guangzhou are believed to be linked to a 75-year-old woman who was found May 21 to have the variant first identified in India, state media say. Most of the others attended a dinner with her or live together.
That infection spread to the nearby city of Nanshan, where one new confirmed case and two asymptomatic cases were reported Saturday after people from Guangzhou were tested, according to The Global Times.
US-Bangla to operate special flight from Saturday
US-Bangla Airlines is going to start a weekly special flight on Dhaka-Guangzhou route from Saturday.
Civil Aviation Authority has permitted the airline to run this flight maintaining special health protocols.
Also read: US-Bangla to operate international flights on four routes from Saturday
Every Saturday the 164-seat Dhaka-Guangzhou-Dhaka flight will leave Dhaka Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 10:10 pm for China’s Guangzhou.
On Sundays the flight will leave Guangzhou for Dhaka at 5 am.
Read: Bangladesh to operate special flights to carry overseas workers
As directed by government, all passengers must have Covid-19 negative certificates at least 72 hours before flying.
In addition, returning passengers have to stay at institutionalized quarantine or hotels for 14 days at their own cost.
Read US-Bangla to operate international flights on four routes from Saturday
China virus outbreak revives calls to stop wildlife trade
The outbreak of a new virus linked to a wildlife market in central China is prompting renewed calls for enforcement of laws against the trade in and consumption of exotic species.
Flight operations resume at Dhaka airport
Flight operations at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport resumed on Thursday morning after seven hours of suspension after the fog lifted.