Businesses, schools closed as officials in Baise contend with latest outbreak

All residents in Baise were placed under home quarantine on Monday to block the spread of the novel coronavirus in the largest prefecture-level city in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, a senior city official said.

Guangxi reported 56 confirmed cases between 4 pm on Sunday and noon on Monday, pushing the region's confirmed case total during its latest COVID-19 outbreak, which began Saturday, to 99. All of the region's cases have been detected in Baise.

Due to the outbreak, all intercity and urban public transportation services have been suspended, and local schools and various training institutions have been closed, Gu Junyan, a vice-mayor of Baise, told a news conference in the city's Debao county on Monday.

"With the exception of hospitals, pharmacies, some supermarkets and agricultural markets for supplies of daily necessities, all shops have been closed, and the catering industry has been required to provide locals with distribution and delivery services," Gu said.

She urged residents to actively cooperate with government departments and abide by pandemic control and prevention measures.

Pang Jun, deputy director of Guangxi's health commission, said government departments in the region are now going all out to curb the spread of the virus.

In Debao, which has reported 88 cases－the most in the region－Longyitun has been listed as a high-risk area, he said.

As of noon Monday, more than 868,600 people from key areas and groups in Baise had undergone nucleic acid testing during three rounds of testing, Pang added.

Huang Zhaoyong, a senior doctor with the regional center for disease control and prevention, said preliminary tests of two samples from the confirmed cases indicated the patients were infected with Omicron strains.

The current outbreak's first case was likely infected outside the region, Huang said.

"Sequencing comparison is still being conducted," he said.

The first confirmed patient participated in gatherings and parties many times after returning to Guangxi, resulting in the spread of the virus in Baise, and all the patients belong to one transmission chain, he added. The patient reportedly returned from Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

Baise authorities have promised to ensure adequate supplies of food and related anti-pandemic materials in the city while great efforts are being made to combat hoarding, price gouging and other illegal market activity.

"At first, I was a little worried about the increase in patients being reported, but now I feel more relaxed as the government has introduced strict measures to block the spread of the virus," said Debao resident Tang Zhenshi.

Located in the western part of Guangxi, Baise, which borders Vietnam, covers an area of more than 36,300 square kilometers and has a population of more than 3.57 million.