China tests 18 million people amid fears of new variant threat

A city in southern China will find out whether extreme measures to destroy a new variant of Covid-19 have worked. If they don’t, it could be disastrous.

It seems like a drop in the ocean: 115 cases of coronavirus among a population of more than 18 million.

But there is a reason authorities in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou are worried — so worried in fact that they tested all 18 million people over a three-day blitz, the scale of which has been achieved nowhere else on the planet.

Over 27 million people – more than the entire population of Australia – have been tested since May 26.

The sprawling port city and capital of Guangdong province has been dealing with a stubborn strain most recently responsible for devastating large parts of India and sending Victoria into a 14-day lockdown.

The delta strain is known to be particularly transmissible and, once it is out, incredibly difficult to contain.

The weapons at China’s disposal are harsh rules and home made vaccines that governments are hoping keep the megapower’s good recent record against the virus intact.

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A women wears receives a dose of a covid vaccine in Wuhan, Hubei Province, on June 9. Picture: Getty Images

China has largely managed to do what would have seemed unthinkable at the beginning of the pandemic when coronavirus first emerged from the city of Wuhan.

It defeated the virus with strict measures including lockdowns and forced quarantine for overseas arrivals. While large parts of the world including the United Kingdom and the United States struggled to open up and spent months with empty city streets and businesses shuttered, China had returned to life as close to pre-pandemic as possible.

At a media conference this week, the deputy director of the Guangzhou Centre for Disease Control played a straight bat.

“The epidemic faced by Guangzhou this time is an unprecedented opponent, and it requires more resolute and decisive measures to deal with it.”

The alarm had been sounded.

Cases continue to trickle in despite harsh measures

A 75-year-old woman who visited a restaurant in Guangzhou is believed to be the first recorded case of the new variant in China.

By June 8 there were 115 cases. Authorities responded by detaining people who had broken rules designed to keep others safe and locking down entire neighbourhoods.

CNBC reports that officials in Guangzhou issued official warnings via messaging app WeChat.

The texts were a friendly but focused attempt at ensuring residents do the right thing without the need to crack down hard.

But the deputy director of Guangzhou’s Municipal Health Commission said this week that “legal liability” was waiting for those who did not play along.

The rules include taking covid tests when required, wearing masks and not spreading misinformation.

A man receiving a nucleic acid test for the Covid-19 coronavirus in Guangzhou in China's southern Guangdong province. Picture: AFP

For more than a week, an average of about 20 million people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 every day in China. Again, for context, Australia’s population is just under 27 million.

China has administered just over 800 million doses to its population of about 1.4 billion people. At the current rate, it could fully vaccinate its whole population in around three months.

But it is unlikely to be able to maintain this pace, according to Raina Macintyre, an epidemiologist at the University of New South Wales.

She said most people vaccinated so far have been in cities, such as Beijing – where 87 per cent of adults have received at least their first shot – but the job will get harder as the campaign fans out to rural areas and small villages.

But there are also concerns being raised about how effective China’s vaccines are after spikes in infections in nations like Seychelles and Mongolia that have had large numbers of infections despite high vaccination rates.

Mass testing ahead of exams for students

Students in Guangdong are tackling the most difficult exams of their lives alone in hospital rooms, according to AFP.

The teenage students taking the life-changing “gaokao” college entrance exams are doing so while also facing travel restrictions.

The gaokao — which began on Monday and ends Wednesday — is typically the most stressful point of a Chinese student’s life, with results determining admission into universities and shaping career prospects.

Residents wait for observation after receiving vaccines in Wuhan on June 9. Picture: Getty Images

The local government has dispatched hundreds of taxis and buses to ferry students from neighbourhoods affected by the outbreak to exam venues, with state broadcaster CCTV showing footage of drivers in hazmat suits spraying down their cars.

Students were split into different rooms based on their level of Covid-19 risk, with contacts of confirmed cases taking the tests in smaller groups.

But infected students with mild symptoms had to take the tough exams solo in brightly lit isolation rooms in the hospital or special locations.

It could be an all-too-familiar sight if the delta strain breaks into the general population.

China reported eight locally transmitted cases on Wednesday, all of which were detected in Guangdong province.

— with Ben Graham and AFP