Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, is speeding up its citywide nucleic acid testing, as a total of 98 infections were reported during the latest resurgence as of Sunday.
Experts said that the COVID-19 strain in the latest epidemic, which was initially detected in India, is more contagious and spreads faster, posing a huge challenge for medical workers to complete the citywide nucleic testing within two days.
"Since the launch of the nucleic acid testing on May 26, as of 12 pm on Saturday, about 16.09 million nucleic acid samples had been collected in Guangzhou, and 33 people had been found to be positive in their testing results," Chen Bin, deputy director and spokesperson of the Guangzhou's health commission, said during a press conference held by the information office of the Guangzhou government on Sunday.
To curb the spread of COVID-19, the city further tightened its travel restrictions. Starting from Monday at noon, passengers leaving Guangzhou are required to present negative nucleic acid test results that are less than 48 hours old.
According to the seventh national population census, as of November 1, 2020, the total permanent population of Guangzhou stood at 18.67 million.
The latest epidemic resurgence in Guangzhou has also spread to the neighboring city of Foshan, which also issued a notice requiring people who want to leave the city to present a negative nucleic acid testing result taken within 48 hours, starting from Monday at noon.