What’s new: South China’s Guangzhou has suspended in-person classes for primary and secondary schools in eight of its 11 districts beginning Thursday as the metropolis’ Covid-19 outbreak worsens.
The southern manufacturing hub also halted kindergarten, off-campus tutoring, and nursery services, while universities in the city will be under “closed-off management,” said Chen Xueming, deputy director of Guangzhou’s education bureau, during a press conference Wednesday.
“Closed-off management,” or a “closed loop,” refers to a system used in China in which people are effectively quarantined at work, often have to eat and sleep on site, and are typically segregated by team or dormitory group.
Guangzhou has reported more than 12,000 new Covid-19 cases since October, with daily caseloads exceeding 1,000 in the past five days. On Wednesday, the city recorded more than 2,500 confirmed and asymptomatic cases.
What’s more: All of the more than 40 flights from Guangzhou to Shanghai scheduled for Wednesday had been cancelled, while just three of the around 30 flights to Beijing actually departed, according to VariFlight data.
Travel data processing platform Flight Master showed only 18.4% of the flights to or from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport between Nov. 1 to Tuesday were executed.
Home to some 18 million residents, the capital of Guangdong province has extended strict Covid-19 control measures from the epicenter of this outbreak to two other districts, where people have been told not to leave their homes unless necessary, according to the city’s health commission.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Joshua Dummer (joshuadummer@caixin.com)
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