Yuexiu district in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, launched mass screening of all residents with nucleic acid testing on May 30. People queued to get tested in a stadium on Sunday. Photo: VCG

Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, reported 18 local confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday, of whom 14 patients were previously diagnosed as silent virus carriers. 

The other four newly detected cases were found through routine screening of close contacts of those infected and were all from Liwan district, the most affected area in the city where the virus strain of the first case was found to be from a strain detected in India. 

Liwan district sealed off two subdistricts on Monday. People living in the subdistricts will be banned from going out and all public venues will be closed.

Guangzhou has recorded 23 confirmed cases as of Monday in the latest outbreak since it started on May 21. 

The city's authorities imposed transportation restrictions on Sunday night to prevent the virus spreading. 

Starting from 10 pm on Sunday, passengers leaving Guangzhou from airports, railway and highway stations are required to present negative nucleic acid test results within the last 72 hours. 

Due to the restrictions, most of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport's inbound and outbound flights have been canceled.

As of 11:40 am, the airport had canceled 519 flights, accounting for 37.34 percent of the total. Among them, 300 were inbound, accounting for 40.7 percent of the total inbound flights, according to flight data services company Variflight.com.

The latest epidemic resurgence in Guangzhou has also spread to neighboring cities Foshan and Maoming. 

Foshan reported two confirmed cases on Monday, both of whom were previously diagnosed as asymptomatic patients.