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Coronavirus China
ChinaScience

Jump in Shenzhen Covid-19 cases puts Hong Kong border hopes on hold

  • Long-awaited reopening to mainland hinges on getting latest outbreak under control but updated numbers show a doubling within 24 hours
  • Close contact tracing has identified all 13 cases so far and all share the same chain of transmission

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The number of Covid-19 infections in Shenzhen, southern China has risen to 13 since the outbreak began on Friday. Photo: Xinhua
Phoebe Zhang
China’s southern city of Shenzhen remains on high alert after a further four new Covid-19 cases – one of them asymptomatic – were uncovered on Tuesday night, doubling the day’s previously reported tally.

Another new case was reported late on Wednesday and there are now 13 infections in total, all belonging to the same chain of transmission, the Shenzhen Health Commission said.

The new infections are a blow to neighbouring Hong Kong’s hopes that its closed border with the mainland will reopen any time soon. Health officials have already warned the long-awaited opening would be postponed until the outbreak is under control.

The Shenzhen outbreak started on Friday, when routine screening picked up the Delta variant in a married couple.

Two of the latest cases are from the same family which was included in Tuesday morning’s briefing, bringing the total number of members affected to five. All were either close contacts of previous confirmed cases or had visited the same places.

They were picked up through testing of close contacts of previous cases and key populations, the health commission said.

The city’s 12.5 million residents have completed one round of compulsory mass screening with a second round under way. Meanwhile, a number of public parks in Shenzhen are closed and restrictions have been placed on residents in Luohu and Longgang, where the confirmed cases live.

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