A child is tested in Haizhu district of Guangzhou, Guangdong province. [Photo by Qiu Quanlin/chinadaily.com.cn]

Closed management measures will be lifted in more than 10 smaller areas in Haizhu district of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, as the city has strengthened efforts to build epidemic-free communities in controlled areas, according to a local health official.

"We are building epidemic-free communities inside the controlled management areas as part of efforts to resume production and social activities as soon as possible in the hardest-hit district of Haizhu," said Zhang Yi, deputy director and spokeswoman of the Guangzhou Health Commission.

Such communities will be built in residential compounds, villages or buildings which report no new infections of COVID-19 for five consecutive days, according to Zhang.

As of Monday, more than 10 communities and villages in high-risk areas of Kanglu, Datang, Chisha and Houjiao have qualified for lifting closed management measures.

"However, it should be emphasized residents in these epidemic-free communities should also strengthen personal protection and avoid gathering," Zhang said during a press conference on Monday afternoon.

In addition to building epidemic-free communities, local authorities have also optimized prevention and control measures in Haizhu with closed management areas being reduced in the district, according to a notice issued on Sunday evening.

Controlled management areas are mostly concentrated in the middle part of Haizhu, where public transportation, catering and driving services, as well as production and operation of businesses, are still suspended.

The city's daily number of new infections declined slowly, with 199 new locally transmitted confirmed cases and 7,166 asymptomatic carriers on Sunday, of which 94 were found at community level.

On Sunday, 5,351 people infected with the novel coronavirus in the city were discharged from makeshift hospitals, bringing the total number to 23,398 in this latest outbreak.

Additionally, elderly people living at home, students taking online classes and people working at home outside the districts of Haizhu, Panyu, Tianhe and Baiyun will no longer be required to take nucleic acid tests unless they need to go out.