Photo:Xinhua

Starting from Monday noon, passengers leaving Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province are required to present negative nucleic acid test results from within the last 48 hours, as the city tightens its travel restrictions to curb the COVID-19 spread.

According to a press conference held by the Information Office of Guangzhou government on Sunday, Chen Bin, Deputy Director and spokesperson of the Guangzhou City Health Commission, said that "Party and government agencies at all levels, enterprises and institutions, schools and travel agencies should take the lead in implementing the requirements for not leaving Guangzhou or leaving the Guangdong Province on non-essential trips."

Chen said that the government would strictly implement the information reporting mechanism. "If a person's health code turns yellow, that person should go for nucleic acid testing immediately on the same day and report the test result. Anyone who tries to conceal or make a false report will bear legal responsibility."

On May 30, the Guangzhou government issued a notice requiring passengers leaving the city to present a negative nucleic acid test report within 72 hours, starting from May 31 on 10 pm.

After the notice was issued, major transportation hubs in Guangzhou saw a total of 91,000 passengers per day, a decrease of 63.6 percent from the days before May 31. Among them, the number of passengers in railway hubs fell by 61.7 percent, Baiyun Airport fell by 64 percent, and highway passenger stations fell by 78.4 percent, the deputy director of the city's Transportation Bureau said at the press conference.

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

Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport had 43.768 million passengers in 2020, becoming the world's busiest airport during the pandemic. It is one of China's three giant airports along with those in Beijing and Shanghai.

As of 1:30 pm Sunday, the airport had canceled 892 flights. Among them, 485 were inbound, according to flight data services company Variflight.com.

From May 21 to Saturday at 12 pm, a total of 94 cases of infection were reported in the city in the latest epidemic resurgence, including 80 confirmed cases and 14 asymptomatic infections.