translated from Spanish: Covid-19: China to build quarantine macrocentre for at-risk travellers

China plans to build in the southeastern city of Canton a gigantic enclosure to quarantine those travelers who enter Chinese territory from countries considered at risk, with the aim of preventing the greatest ease of infection of variants of covid such as the delta. According to the renowned Chinese expert Zhong Nanshan – quoted today by the Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post – the hotels where at least two weeks of mandatory quarantine are currently carried out when entering China are not adapted to contain new, more infectious mutations. Zhong explained that the center will have an area of 250,000 square meters, “there will be 5,000 isolated places and people will be in isolation according to strict rules to make sure they do not infect others.” The expert on respiratory infections – who is given a decisive role during the SARS epidemic in 2002 and 2003 – indicated that, at the moment, between 80 and 90% of travelers from abroad enter the country through the southeastern province of Cantón.De moment the only province that has registered patients with the delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has been Canton , although Zhong asserted that, given its high rate of contagion, it is difficult to guarantee that there will not be in the future. The specialist also advocated a review of the definition and isolation of close contacts with infected with this variant.” Before, close contacts were the relatives of a patient, or people who ate or met with them in an office or were less than a meter away in the two days before the onset of symptoms, he added. But with the delta variant they should be those who were in the same space, room or even building in the four days prior to the manifestation of symptoms.” So far China has successfully managed to contain the spread of the virus on its territory, according to figures published by health authorities, through strict monitoring, prevention and control measures. In its latest bulletin, published on Saturday, the National Health Commission indicated that the total number of active infected in mainland China stood at 474, of which fourteen are serious. According to the institution’s accounts, since the beginning of the pandemic, 91,718 people have been infected in the country, among whom 86,608 have managed to heal and 4,636 have died. As for vaccination for covid, the same agency detailed today that it had injected more than 1,143 million doses and, according to information published this Friday by the state press, there are already 630 million people vaccinated in China, which means that the goal of immunizing 40% of the population before the end of June has been met.

Original source in Spanish