On March 12, officials from the Guangzhou health commission, Guangzhou commerce bureau, Haizhu district government, and Guangzhou center for disease control and prevention offered COVID-19 updates in Guangzhou at the press conference.

Guangzhou reported that a visitor who traveled from another city tested positive. A patient is a 31-year-old man who works as a salesperson.

The patient flew to Guangzhou from another city on March 8 and checked in at MARHAUS Boutique Hotel on Jiangnan Middle Avenue, Haizhu district. He tested negative on the same night.

His travel history from March 8 to 10 covered Haizhu, Yuexiu, Baiyun, and Panyu.

He began experiencing symptoms such as a fever, coughing, and muscle pain on the evening of March 10.

He tested positive on March 11 and was immediately placed under health administration measures. His second test result came back positive as well. The patient was transported to No 8 Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University. The medical treatment expert panel studied the clinical and imaging manifestations as well as the laboratory test results and concluded that the patient had been infected by SARS-Cov-2 (with mild symptoms). Currently, the patient is in stable condition.

The emergency response mechanism was triggered at both municipal and district levels after it was reported that the patient had tested positive. Other emergency response measures including verification and investigation on the ground, verification of laboratory test results, contact tracing and screening as well as identifying and cordoning off possible exposure sites were carried out simultaneously.

By 8:00 am on  March 12, 154 people had been identified as close contacts and 82 people had been identified as secondary close contacts, all of whom had taken tests and had been placed under health administration measures. A total of 1,292 people had been found to have links to possible exposure sites, and they had been issued yellow Suikang codes. They are also required to take three tests in seven days.

Following the patient's movements and epidemiological investigation results, 20 possible exposure sites have been identified.

Haizhu district (8):

MARHAUS Boutique Hotel, Jiangnan Middle Avenue; Xiayijia Fresh Produce Supermarket beneath the hotel; Longji Convenience Store near the hotel; Qianlixiang Wonton King Jiangnan Avenue Store; Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center on Pazhou Island; Jiangnan East Comprehensive Market; Jiangnanxi Metro Station; Juewei Duck Neck Jiangnan East Store;

Yuexiu district (4):

Beauty Exchange Center Wormwood Store; Shantou Specialty Beef Soup Noodle Store near the Beauty Exchange Center; Community Heath Service Center Nucleic Acid Testing Station in Kuangquan neighborhood; Yijia Convenience Store, Yaotai Avenue;

Baiyun district (5):

International Exhibition of Wormwood Products and Moxibustion Instruments and Equipment in Eva Plaza; Aikangdi Factory; Jinbang Freight Market Nucleic Acid Testing Station; Baiyun International Airport; Sanyuanli Metro Station;

Panyu district (3):

Qinghuafang Residence; Banqiao Metro Station; Teemall Panyu Store.

Differentiated risk-based containment measures were applied to some areas around the hotel the patient stayed at.

Lockdown zone:

MARHAUS Boutique Hotel, No 1 and 2 Suihua Second Alleys, Haizhu district

Partially lockdown zones:

No 4, 7, and 8 Suihua First Alleys; No 3, 5, 6, and 7 Suihua Second Alleys.

Restricted zones:

No 207, 209, 211, areas and restricted zones. By 8:00 am and 213 Jiangnan Middle Avenue; No 1, 2, 3, 6, 6-1, and 9-19 Suihua First Alleys; No 8 – 14 Suihua Second Alleys.

Measures including contact tracing and environmental disinfection have been taken in the abovementioned possible exposure sites. All the sites have been cordoned off. A total of 169 environmental samples had been taken, and none of the tests have returned positive results.

Preliminary analysis suggests this patient has no link to the two cases reported in the past couple of days. It is highly likely that the new case contracted the virus outside of Guangdong Province.

On March 12, Guangzhou took decisive measures and cordoned off Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center on Pazhou Island. A testing team consisting of over 700 healthcare workers was sent to Pazhou to test the 49,000 people inside the venue. As of now, none of the tests have returned positive results.

A total of 457 testing sites and 2,147 testing units have been introduced to conduct tests on key groups, covering all possible exposure sites, lockdown areas, partial lockdown areas, and restricted zones. By 8:00 am on March 12, 2 million samples were taken during nucleic acid tests and none of them returned positive results.

People with possible links to potential exposure sites have been issued yellow Suikang Codes. Text message notifications have also been delivered to these people in order to implement COVID-19 control and prevention measures. Residents should follow the instructions when taking the nucleic acid tests and monitor their health status.

According to epidemiological investigation results, the area where the patient lives was cordoned off because of newly detected infections on the day he arrived in Guangzhou. Preliminary analysis suggests this case has no link to the two cases reported in the past couple of days. It is highly likely that the patient contracted the virus outside of Guangdong province.

Reminder: The following visitors(returnees) must report to relevant authorities within 12 hours upon arriving in Guangzhou.

Visitors who have been to mid- or high-risk zones or provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government) which have reported local infections must report to the community (village) or residential block, employer, hotel within 12 hours upon arriving in Guangzhou. These visitors are also required to take nucleic acid tests and abide by health administration measures. Hotels and homestays should enhance their commitment to fulfilling COVID-19 control and prevention obligations and rigorously implement health administration measures on guests, such as taking temperatures and checking health codes.

Residents and visitors (returnees) are advised to continue implementing COVID-19 control and prevention practices including cleaning your hands, wearing facial masks, keeping indoor spaces ventilated, and staying at least one meter away from others when queuing in line. Everyone must scan and present the Suikang Code, have their temperature taken, and wear masks properly when using public transportation or entering public sites. If you experience symptoms such as fever and coughing, you are advised to seek professional medical advice at the nearest fever clinic and report your travel history.

Five Expos were suspended in Guangzhou, including the Beauty Expo.

The Guangzhou MICE Industry Joint Office issued a notice in the afternoon of March 11 to temporarily cease all expos in accordance with COVID-19 control and prevention requirements, with the goal of ensuring the safety of people's health.

After the notice was issued, five expos, including the 59th China International Beauty Expo and the 28th Window Door Façade Expo, which were both scheduled for the same day, were canceled. Some expos that were slated to take place soon after receiving the request were postponed.

Lin Guoqiang, deputy director-general of the Guangzhou commerce bureau, stated that the stock of the eight major categories of basic necessities is sufficient, the supply is stable, and the logistics are unobstructed.

The Guangzhou basic necessities safeguard team worked with every district and key supplier across Guangzhou to make arrangements for the sustained supply of basic necessities in order to ward off potential risks. The team also worked with supermarkets and fresh produce e-commerce platforms to prioritize the supply of necessities in key areas. At the same time, a "last-100-meter" emergency response exercise was carried out across Guangzhou to make precaution plans to quickly mobilize resources, ensure the rapid movement of vehicles and personnel and appropriately locate supply stations under lockdown settings.

Haizhu district government: A sincere apology to all people stranded in the Exhibition Center.

Fu Xiaochu, member of the standing committee of the CPC Haizhu district committee and executive deputy mayor of the district, made the following statement:

As of now, 97 people had been identified as close contacts and 4 people had been identified as secondary close contacts in Haizhu district, all of whom had been quarantined. A total of 93 environmental samples had been taken in possible exposure sites and none of the tests have returned positive results. All sites have been disinfected. Close contacts have been issued red Suikang Codes and they were asked to stay put to be collected by the community's "three-people group". People with links to the possible exposure sites have been given yellow Suikang Codes. They have also received text message notifications telling them to take a nucleic acid test at the nearest "yellow code" testing station.

Meanwhile, a total of 382 testing units were set up to conduct nucleic acid tests for possible exposure areas including the Changgang neighborhood, the entire Jiangnan Middle neighborhood, and Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center. Among them, 49,283 people were sampled at Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center and none of the results came back positive. A total of 105,121 people took the test in the two key neighborhoods, 86,418 people tested negative and the remainder of the results are still being processed.

During the testing process, miscalculations on the number of people waiting to be tested at the Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center led to reduced efficiency and insufficient emergency response. Many people were affected and got stranded in the Exhibition Center as a result. We would like to express our apologies to everyone affected on behalf of the Haizhu district government.

Reminder from Guangzhou CDC: Residents must place greater importance on testing.

Zhang Zhoubin, Party secretary of Guangzhou CDC, said that according to the genetic sequencing results of the municipal CDC laboratory, this patient has been infected by the Omicron BA.2 variant, which is different from the BA.1.1 variant that was contracted by the two cases reported in the past couple of days. They come from different sources and this variant is more infectious.

Zhang said this patient fully understood the importance of testing.

The patient took a test on March 8 after he arrived in Guangzhou, and the result was negative. In the afternoon of March 10, he took the initiative to take another test. The patient was immediately placed under health administration measures after he tested positive. Epidemiological investigations began simultaneously.

We found in the epidemiological investigation that the patient came to Guangzhou specifically for the Expo. If he didn't take tests on his own initiative, it would take longer for us to detect this case, meaning that it would be even more challenging to contain the spread.

Zhang asked residents to place more importance on testing.

Tests should be conducted before departing from and after arriving in Guangzhou. People working in industries and positions vulnerable to infection risks should be tested on a regular basis. Residents who have traveled to high-risk areas or are constantly on business trips should increase the frequency of testing. Residents who have received risk alert text messages should take an even more active approach in taking tests.