Today, November 23, 2022, Guangdong province reported 8,054 new cases of COVID-19. Symptomatic cases accounted for 549 of the total number, whereas the number of asymptomatic cases was 7,505.

The combined number of cases per city is as follows:

• Guangzhou 7,620

• Foshan 173

• Shenzhen 66

• Zhanjiang 50

• Zhongshan 30

• Dongguan 25

• Foshan 16

• Zhaoqing13

• Zhuhai 11

• Yangjiang 9

• Qingyuan 9

• Huizhou 6

• Maoming 6

• Meizhou 6

• Shantou 5

• Jieyang 5

• Shaoguan 2

• Jiangmen 1

• Chaozhou 1

Buying medicine during COVID times…

We’ve all been left frustrated by not being able to buy certain medicines without a doctor’s note or because you need a Chinese ID card to buy specific drugs on Meituan. However, that looks like it’s about to change.

Now, the rules around having to register your personal information when buying cold medicines or pain relief will only apply to areas marked as low or high COVID risk areas in Guangdong province. 

If your area doesn’t have any COVID cases (I know, but we can dream), you can buy as much Tylenol as you need to sleep through this whole mess. 

But seriously, don’t take so much pain relief that you pass out…

Medicines include Ibuprofen, as well as other painkillers and cold treatments. 

See a full list of the medicines below (Chinese).

Panyu District Closes Restaurants and Training Centers

Today, Panyu district announced that all restaurants and training centers will close from midnight on Friday, November 25, shattering all hopes and dreams of those wishing to go out for the weekend. 

Panyu resumed dine-in services on November 17, becoming only the second district in Guangzhou to offer the service at the time. However, on November 21, restaurant dining was suspended in Tianhe.

With the closure of Panyu's restaurants, as of press time, no district in Guangzhou is offering full unrestricted dine-in services.

Sun Yat-sen allows students to return home…

Who says all COVID news needs to be bad?

Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou’s Haizhu district has announced measures to ensure students can return home during the pandemic and not be confined to their dormitories. 

Should the university campus go five days without a new infection (four days have already passed), students who apply to leave and get consent from their families, will be able to return home. 

University students have had a hard time of it during the COVID-19 era, mostly being isolated in their dormitories and campuses when cases start to rise. 

Bad News in Beijing...

Beijing continues to face an outbreak of locally transmitted COVID-19 cases. Many parts of the city continue to impose lockdowns of certain residential communities, temporary suspension of dining services, work-from-home where possible, etc. 

There has been one more COVID-19-related death recorded in the Chinese capital, in addition to the other three recorded during the latest outbreak. 

Beijing Daily reports that an 87-year-old woman was admitted to hospital on November 16 after suffering from heart problems. The patient later tested positive for COVID-19. She passed away yesterday, November 23, primarily because of underlying illness. 

Traveling to Shanghai? Note These (Pretty Strict) New Rules

Residents of Beijing have been told not to leave the Chinese capital, unless absolutely necessary. 

If you’re planning an absolutely necessary trip to Shanghai, take note of these new rules. 

Those entering Shanghai from anywhere on the Chinese mainland will not be allowed to enter restaurants, bars, shopping centers, supermarkets, food markets, beauty salons, massage studios, gyms, Internet cafes, KTVs and entertainment venues for five days from the day arrival.

You are still allowed to go to work though. Well, whoop-de-doo!

Public transport, hospitals and banks are also excluded from the list of banned public venues.

While your code will remain green on the Suishenban health code app, a 'less than five days since arrival' notification will appear on both your health and venue code.

Oh, and you'll also need to take a PCR test on days one, two, three and five.

The rule is already in effect as of press time.

Cases in Guangzhou

Guangzhou reported 428 symptomatic cases of COVID-19 and 7,192 asymptomatic cases of COVID-19, a combined total of 7,620, a decrease of 350 from yesterday’s 7,970.

This is the fifth time infections have fallen in six days. We don’t want to speak too soon, but we hope the trend continues so we can at least enjoy some World Cup matches in bars with friends. 

Cases in Shenzhen

Shenzhen has reported 66 new cases of COVID-19 today, Thursday, November 24, 2022, with 33 symptomatic and 33 asymptomatic cases. 

In the city, the number of infections has been rising for a few days, on Wednesday, there were 40 new cases (15 symptomatic and 25 asymptomatic). 

Today’s cases include three individuals that returned to Shenzhen from another province.

Futian district reported 24 cases, the remaining 6 cases were in Longhua district. 

[Cover image via NIAID-RML]