Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

SHENZHEN is at “low risk” of developing a large-scale COVID-19 outbreak, as the recent epidemic flare-up has been generally under control, a health official said at a press conference yesterday.

According to Lin Hancheng, a senior official from the municipal health commission, the city has seen a decline in the number of new COVID cases at the community level. “As a whole, the city’s virus situation is generally under control, and the risk of large-scale spread is low.”

Lin noted that all cases in the city’s latest wave of COVID resurgence have been detected early and taken care of, but the possibility of subsequent sporadic cases cannot be ruled out.

“The city has continued to strengthen the professional training of sampling medical workers and standardized sampling skills to improve nucleic acid sampling quality,” Lin said, adding that prevention and control measures in key areas and industries will be further consolidated.

Meanwhile, the city’s commerce bureau has ordered online on-demand service platforms to organize daily nucleic acid tests for deliverymen, who have been included into a “white list” allowing them to deliver goods after their nucleic acid test results are verified.

Chen Jianmin, deputy head of the administration for market regulation, said the city conducts nucleic acid testing and disinfection on imported frozen products at checkpoints, while keeping an eye on the transportation, centralized supervision at warehouses, storage and sales.

According to the market regulator, businesses must provide four documents and one code for frozen products, namely, the inspection and quarantine certificate of inbound goods, the negative nucleic acid test report, the disinfection certificate, the centralized supervision warehouse receipt and the traceability code, otherwise the frozen products cannot be stored in the cold storage nor sold.

Wu Bing, a senior official from the Office of Port of Entry and Exit of the Shenzhen Municipal Government, said the city issued guidelines on COVID prevention and control at the city’s land checkpoints Sunday, in a bid to strictly regulate the management of people, vehicles and goods in these areas.

The city will improve infrastructures such as special passages for inbound travelers and cross-border drivers, as well as emergency quarantine facilities, and enhance the closed-off management of transfer passages to prevent cross infection.

Shenzhen reported four locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and 15 local asymptomatic infections Monday.