Haizhu district, the epicenter of this round of COVID-19 outbreaks in Guangzhou, has decided to prolong its strengthened prevention and control measures against the novel coronavirus in part of the district when a large number of infections continued to be detected in the district's high-risk areas and controlled zones on Wednesday.

According to a statement released by Haizhu's headquarters for COVID-19 prevention and control on Thursday, the strengthened prevention and control measures, which require residents in the high-risk and controlled zones to stay at home and the suspension of public transport services, will continue until the end of Saturday.

The decision to prolong the strengthened measures was made when experts' research and judgment indicated that the pandemic situation in Haizhu is still at a high platform stage and transmission risk at the community level is still high, said the statement.

The recent new infections detected in Haizhu are highly concentrated in district's high-risk areas and controlled zones, indicating that the COVID-19 situation in the district is still complex and severe, it said.

Panyu and Liwan districts, where sporadic cases were detected, also continued some strict measures against COVID-19.

Liwan district requires everyone to show their negative nucleic acid test results done within 24 hours, to wear masks and have their body temperature measured when they enter into supermarkets, office buildings and related public venues, in a bid to block the transmission of the virus at a community level.

Also, primary and high schools are required to continue online classes while colleges and vocational schools are introducing closed-loop management.

In Panyu district, all residents are required to show their green health codes to take buses, metros and related public transportation tools, and some indoor venues including cinemas, KTVs, bars and gyms also suspended their business.

According to statistics released by the city's health commission, Guangzhou reported 275 local transmitted confirmed cases, plus 8,486 asymptomatic carriers, on Wednesday.

The entire Guangdong province reported a total of 307 local transmitted patients and another 8,576 asymptomatic carriers on Wednesday.