Shaanxi province identified six new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and one asymptomatic carrier in Xi'an on Oct 18, authorities said on Monday morning at a news conference.

The seven people who were found to be positive were part of a tour group that had traveled from Shanghai to Zhangye, Gansu province by air via Xi'an on Oct 9 and then traveled around by car in Gansu and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region also reported one case on Monday. The patient, surnamed Ai, had joined the seven traveling in Gansu and Inner Mongolia and had returned to Yinchuan from Jiayuguan on Saturday. In Jiayuguan, 26 people were identified as having had close contact with infected individuals.

To strengthen COVID-19 prevention and control in the city, Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention reminds residents to abide by the following measures:

1. People coming or returning to Guangzhou

—from Zhangye, Gansu province on and after Oct 2;

—from Alxa League, Inner Mongolia autonomous region on and after Oct 6；

—from Jiayuguan, Gansu province on and after Oct 14;

—from Xi'an, Shaanxi province on and after Oct 15;

as well as those with red or yellow health codes should report to their community (village) committees, employers or hotels immediately.  

2. Residents should keep practicing personal protective measures, continue to wear masks correctly, maintain social distancing and good hygiene, keep indoors ventilated, and avoid going to crowded, enclosed, and poorly ventilated spaces. Those planning to go to indoor entertainment and recreational venues should make an appointment in advance, take temperature checks, provide health codes, scan QR codes at venues for tracking and tracing, keep a distance of 1 meter from each other and reduce their duration of stays.

3. Residents coming back to Guangzhou from a trip outside Guangdong province should take a nucleic acid test and monitor their health for 14 days.

Those who experience symptoms such as a fever, dry cough, fatigue, decreased sense of smell and taste, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat, conjunctivitis, myalgia, and diarrhea should report to their community (village) committees, employers or hotels immediately and go to their nearest fever clinic. Masks must be worn, and people must truthfully inform their healthcare workers of their travel and epidemiological history of the past 14 days. In such cases, public transportation should be avoided.

4. To ensure the success of the ongoing 130th Canton Fair in Guangzhou from Oct 8 to 20, all residents coming or returning to Guangzhou from outside Guangdong must provide a negative PCR test report within 48 hours, and those without one shall take a test within 24 hours upon arrival in Guangzhou.