Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

SHENZHEN has made it through the peak of COVID-19 infections and is making every effort to ensure that citizens enjoy a safe and joyful Spring Festival holiday, according to a press conference held by the city government yesterday.

The city has returned to normal, indicated by declining visits to fever clinics and emergency departments, as well as ambulance transfers and hotline consultations. The Metro has also seen an increase in passenger volume and power consumption, according to Chang Juping, deputy director of the municipal health commission.

As the Spring Festival approaches, Shenzhen will do its best to provide health care services for its citizens, take a slew of measures to meet citizens’ needs for travel and daily necessities, and hold various Spring Festival activities, local authorities said.

According to Chang, Shenzhen has designated 1,005 medical service grids across the city, expanded the number of fever consulting rooms to over 2,200, and opened a hotline for medical consultations.

The city has also prepared epidemic prevention and treatment kits that will be distributed to patients by community health centers according to patients’ needs, and established community-level health management teams.

“Fever consulting rooms equipped with oxygen inhalers have been set up in 811 community health institutions,” Chang said.

Shenzhen is continuing to increase the supply of medicines and medical devices. According to Mo Xiling, deputy director of the city’s market regulator, the market supervisory authority will keep monitoring the stocks of antipyretics and boost production capacity.

Wu Bing, an official from the city’s port of entry and exit office, said that Shenzhen’s land checkpoints recorded 63,259 inbound and outbound trips between Sunday and Monday.

As of noon yesterday, 105,027 people had registered in the reservation system for Hong Kong trips via the land checkpoints.

In addition, reservation for Hong Kong trips remains sufficient, with 350,000 spots still available from yesterday to Jan. 16. As of noon yesterday, 26,433 appointments had been made in the system.

From Jan. 16 to 19 and from Jan. 26 to 30, the city’s Metro service hours (excluding Line 20) will be extended to midnight, according to Xu Wei, deputy director of the city’s transport bureau.

From Jan. 31 to Feb. 7, service hours of the key Metro lines connecting railway stations and the airport, including lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 11, and the spur line of Line 6 will be extended to midnight.

The annual Shenzhen Spring Festival Flower Fair is scheduled to open Sunday. Futian District, the fair’s main venue, has set up seven themed flower exhibitions covering 25,000 square meters on Haitian Road, Fuhua Road 1, Gangxia Road 1 and Gangxia Road 2.