(Yicai Global) April 12 -- Southern China's Guangzhou has tested all travelers coming from high-risk Covid-19 regions, such as Italy, France, and the US, for the virus to avoid further transmission, according to the municipal government.

Since Guangzhou's first imported case was found on March 15, the city has logged 119 imported cases and further 13 local cases infected by those people, Mayor Wen Guohui said at a press conference yesterday.

The southern manufacturing hub had not required quarantines for overseas arrivals before March 21. But the measures were tightened after the first imported case was discovered. From March 22, the city put all of those who had arrived after March 8 under 14-day quarantines and presented them with nucleic acid tests.

Soon a blanket of prevention measures was put into place. On March 27, the city in Guangdong province started testing all new arrivals, including transit passengers and people coming from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, as well as demanding quarantines.

Guangzhou had nearly 86,500 foreign residents as of Dec. 25. More than 50,000 of them had not come back to the city after the Chinese New Year holiday that started in late January.

Editor: Emmi Laine