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The elderly and children account for more infected people in the latest COVID-19 outbreak in South China’s Guangdong Province, among whom around 30 percent are over 60 years old, and 13 percent are under 14 years old, local health officials announced Friday.

On Friday’s press conference, Xu Qingfeng, deputy director of the Guangdong provincial health commission, said as of Thursday, 140 confirmed cases and asymptomatic infections have been reported in Guangdong, including 121 confirmed cases, seven asymptomatic infections in Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong, 10 confirmed cases in Foshan, one confirmed case in Zhanjiang and one asymptomatic infection in Maoming. Shenzhen has reported 4 confirmed cases and 12 asymptomatic infections so far. 

In the hospital, 134 local confirmed cases were treated, including six critical cases, five severe cases. The number of infected people in this epidemic is high among the elderly and children. The oldest is 92 years old and the youngest is 1 year old, Xu said. 

Maoming, Foshan and Shenzhen have reported no new cases since May 26, June 5, and June 7 respectively. The new cases in Guangzhou were found from the closed management area and quarantine sites. Guangzhou reported nine new cases on Friday. 

Experts believe the epidemic situation in Guangzhou is improving, but the possibility of sporadic cases is not ruled out. 

Some 10-12 percent of the COVID-19 patients in the latest COVID-19 outbreak in Guangzhou are critically ill, Guan Xiangdong, a specialist in the Guangdong COVID-19 medical team, told media on Thursday.

The proportion is higher than in the epidemic in Wuhan, and the following 20 regional clusters that took place across China, in which the proportion was usually 2-3 percent, 5-8 percent or “8-10 percent in a few areas,” Guan said to China Central Television (CCTV) on Thursday.

The relatively high proportion of severe and critically ill cases was probably caused by the highly pathogenic viral strains that spread in this wave of the epidemic in Guangzhou, Guan said.

Also, patients in Guangzhou this time have more obvious symptoms, with about 80 percent having had a fever, said Zhang. The patients have “a very high” viral load, and it decreases “at a very slow speed,” he said.

Global Times