guangzhou plans colossal quarantine facility with 5,000 isolated spaces as delta spreads

in guangzhou, hotels are fast becoming overwhelmed as local residents and international travelers alike seek quarantine from the coronavirus and its highly transmissible delta variant. the southern chinese city plans to mitigate the overload with a new facility that will cover 250,000 square meters ( 2.7 million square feet) and will host 5,000 quarantine spaces. leading epidemiologist and respiratory expert zhong nanshan notes that while guangdong province has become china’s main portal to receive and quarantine those entering the country, local hotels are not equipped to stop the spread.

newly built mobile laboratories for nucleic acid testing in a gymnasium in guangzhou | image by reuters

according to reuters, guangdong province has reported 168 confirmed infections between may 21st and june 21st, with nearly 90% of them in its capital, guangzhou. even throughout mass testing and quarantine measures, 80 to 90 percent of international travelers enter the country through guangzhou, rendering the city a high-risk area. news of the planned quarantine facility was announced on friday july 2nd by zhong nanshan, whom NPR described as ‘the public face of china’s war against coronavirus.’ according to the south china morning post, zhong commented in a group interview: ‘there will be 5,000 isolated spaces and the people there will be isolated according to strict rules to make sure they do not infect each other.‘ 

guangzhou administered 18 million tests in three days in june | image by south china morning post, june 6th 2021

zhong nanshan comments on the importance of the quarantine facility in guangzhong: ‘in the long term, guangzhou and shenzhen must build these kinds of facilities. otherwise when there are lots of cases in the future and we have to quarantine them in hotels, it will affect the economy and we cannot isolate them in a real sense.‘