How-to China: How did Shenzhen beat Omicron?

Q: Why did Shenzhen decide to "slow down"?

Lu: If people were not at a standstill, the transmission chain would extend.

When only about 40 positive cases were discovered in the mass testing by 4 pm on March 14, that showed the epidemic was controllable. I was confident the city would reopen on March 21.

Q: How could Shenzhen "slow down" from March 14 to 20 and quickly cut off transmission?

Lu: The Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission has played a key role in organizing medical teams to analyze and research daily conditions.

When sporadic cases were reported on March 12 and 13, it was hard to eliminate new infections as there were multiple transmission chains.

The city tried to block transmission sources from Hong Kong, such as stopping entry of truck drivers from HK, but sending locals to drive the trucks from the ports. It also cut off the routes of stowaways.

After that, we put all people on standstill to take nucleic acid tests, which effectively reduced the transmission risk.