Macau guard's up amid Shenzhen, Guangzhou cases

Macau is requiring people who have visited several districts in Shenzhen and Guangzhou to take a 14-day quarantine after fresh Covid-19 infections surged in the two cities.

Guangzhou registered four local cases and Shenzhen two on Wednesday, triggering large-scale testing. More than a million residents of Guangzhou had to complete the tests following a restaurant outbreak.

Hong Kong, meanwhile, had no confirmed cases yesterday - the first time since October 14 last year - though it had five preliminary positive cases. A total of 11,837 infections have been recorded in the city so far.

The city said since the Jinlong Huixin Building in Liwan district of Guangzhou has been listed as a medium-risk place, Hong Kong residents who have been there cannot return through the Return2hk scheme. But others returning from Guangzhou and Shenzhen can without being quarantined.

The Macau government said all travelers who had been to the Heyuan residential quarter of Liwan district in Guangzhou in the past two weeks must be quarantined for 14 days at designated venues starting at 6am yesterday.

The night before, Macau said travelers from communities in Longgang and Yantian districts in Shenzhen would need to undergo a 14-day mandatory quarantine upon arrival. Travel between Macau and the mainland has been open for some time.

Macau adopted tightened measures after a dim sum restaurant cluster emerged in Guangzhou, involving an 11-year-old boy, his 38-year-old mother and his 73-year-old grandmother.

The three live together in the eastern area of the Heyuan residential quarter. The cases were detected after the boy developed a fever and had a headache on Monday and the grandmother accompanied him to hospital the next day. They were confirmed infected on Wednesday.

The 73-year-old woman's niece, 17, also tested positive later. She became sick after a family gathering at the girl's home in Haizhu district on Saturday.

Travel records showed the grandmother had breakfast on May 19 at the dim sum restaurant, where another confirmed patient had been at the same time.

A total of seven people have been confirmed in the cluster so far.

Guangzhou authorities said all 1.23 million residents living in the Liwan district had to take tests on Wednesday and yesterday.

A large number of people flooded lined up in the streets to be tested, with some criticizing the chaotic arrangements. Many said they waited to be tested for three to four hours. Some complained that crowds gathering in streets carried a higher risk of getting infected.

"The space between people in a queue was not even a meter at all," one person said. "It's so risky that a large number of people were gathering."

Shenzhen's cases involved a factory worker, 54, and a boy, 15, who both live in Longgang district.

The man is employed at the Haina Exhibition factory in Futian district and the boy was at the factory for two hours.

They are not related.

Residents in districts including Yantian, Longgang, Luohu and Futian were also required to take tests.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com