People have their information registered before COVID-19 nucleic acid testing in Liwan District of Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, June 8, 2021. A new round of mass testing in high-risk areas of Baihedong Street and Zhongnan Street in Guangzhou started on Tuesday.(Photo: Xinhua)

Health officials from Guangzhou warned that symptoms of COVID-19 could be confused with those of other common diseases, reminding the public to receive nucleic acid tests and treatment in a timely manner. The recent outbreak in Guangzhou was caused by the Delta variant strain first found in India, officials had said. 

Zhou Bin, the deputy director with the Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the press on Tuesday that most COVID-19 patients showed symptoms such as fever, fatigue, coughing and sore throat, which can easily be confused with symptoms of other diseases, thus making the public ignore the infectious disease. 

Zhou reminded anyone who had gone to a sealed-off area after May 20 or had a fever of over 37.3 degrees, fatigue, sore throat and diminished sense of smell and taste to take a nucleic acid test quickly. 

Guangzhou reported its first case on May 21. Since then, the city has recorded a total of 147 positive COVID-19 patients. The outbreak in Guangzhou was caused by the Delta variant strain first found in India, which has the strongest transmission ability among the known variants. However, due to the recent implementation of strict prevention and control strategies and measures in Guangzhou, the epidemic situation has been alleviated.

To better screen out potential COVID-19 patients, residents in Guangzhou can receive free COVID-19 tests in any fever clinics of medical institutes, according to local health authorities.

Global Times