Five district-level areas back to normal life starting Friday

Writer: Zhang Yu  |  Editor: Holly Wang  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2022-03-18

Government agencies, public institutions and businesses in Yantian, Pingshan and Guangming districts, Dapeng New Area, and Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone will resume normal operations starting Friday, but COVID prevention and control measures should still be strictly followed in their lockdown, control and prevention areas, according to a notice issued by the city’s COVID prevention and control headquarters Thursday night.

Metro and bus services will restart in the five district-level areas, which have achieved dynamic zero infections, as per the notice.

Meanwhile, precision prevention and control measures will remain in place in other districts of the city to achieve maximum benefits at minimum cost, it said.

At a press conference held earlier Thursday, Huang Qiang, deputy secretary-general of the Shenzhen Municipal Government, said the city will enhance targeted services for enterprises and address their practical needs amid its latest wave of COVID-19 resurgence that is fueled by the Omicron variant.

The city will guide and supervise enterprises on anti-epidemic measures such as factory and workshop disinfection, staff temperature measurement, canteen ventilation and individual meal servings, according to him.

According to Huang, the city will also take steps to solve businesses’ labor, capital and raw material supply crunches. Firms can report problems using the “深i企” platform or by calling the government service hotline.

Citizens can call the service hotline 12345 or their subdistricts’ hotlines at any time if faced with living material or medical treatment difficulties, he said.

Except for residents in lockdown and control areas who are required to seek medical treatment as per relevant rules, other residents in Shenzhen’s housing compounds and urban villages are allowed to go to the hospital for treatment, with their doctor appointments or medical records as proof for returning to their homes, according to Huang.

He said the city will never slack off in the fight against COVID although the number of cases found in other areas than the lockdown and control areas across the city had declined markedly, with single digits for two days in a row.

In addition, relevant departments have opened some school buildings or emergency shelters, and coordinated with hotels to provide accommodation for migrant workers, especially deliverymen, who play critical roles in the city’s anti-COVID work.

Xu Zhibin, deputy head of the Longhua District Government, the city’s railway authorities have cut the number of high-speed trains stopping at Shenzhen North Railway Station from 249 to 153, and passengers have been given free ticket refunds and changes. Six nucleic acid testing sites have been set up in the station’s west square.