A senior disease prevention and control expert estimates the COVID-19 outbreak in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, will last about a month and will end before June 20. 

And the number of patients and asymptomatic carriers will be no more than 180, said Ma Wenjun, chief expert of the Guangdong Provincial Center of Disease Control and Prevention.

"With the successful experience of last year's fight against COVID-19, we are bound to overcome the coronavirus pandemic, which is beyond doubt," Ma said in his article published in the official WeChat account of the Guangdong Preventive Medicine Association on Sunday.

Ma, who also is director of Guangdong Provincial Institute of Public Health, said his forecast was based on epidemiological investigation and previous outbreaks in the other parts of the country.

According to statistics released by the Guangzhou City Health Commission, the southern metropolis reported six new local transmitted confirmed cases on Saturday, bringing the city's total number of COVID-19 cases to 142, including 135 patients and seven asymptomatic carriers, in this outbreak that began May 21.