The two cases of contagion from Chinese sellers, the first nationals of this country to be infected in Angola, were confirmed on 20 July and the next day a sanitary fence was raised in the shopping centre that houses more than 300 shops in Luanda.
On 23 and 24 July, a team of over 70 health professionals carried out rapid tests on 1583 people, including shopkeepers, workers (Chinese, Angolans and other nationalities) and direct contacts of both cases, according to a statement from the Jiangsu General Chamber of Commerce and China City Pandemic Prevention and Fight Command in Angola.
Serological tests revealed 34 people with IgM antibodies, which means they have been in contact with the virus and may be in an active phase of the disease and are already undergoing quarantine.
These are six Chinese citizens and 28 Angolans and other nationalities.
The 19 direct contacts of the two cases are also quarantined and one of them tested IgG, which means he had previous contact with the virus, but developed immunity.
The health fence was lifted on Friday and a further 100 people were tested, with an IgM result, an Angolan worker who was also placed in quarantine.
The City of China has stores belonging to traders from China, Angola, United States, Portugal, India, Turkey, Lebanon and gives work to over 4000 Angolans.
"The suspension because of the health fence has a serious impact on the business and survival of shopkeepers and also of Angolan workers," admit those responsible, adding that mass testing allows the suspected source of contagion to be quickly identified and quarantine measures taken to reduce the risk of spreading the disease.
The City of China also said it has established a special fund to support the government in preventing and combating the pandemic, which has already financed activities of the Viana Administration, Luanda Province, Kwanza Norte Province, Migration Service, Viana Municipal Command, Collection Center and Multi-sectoral Commission.
Angola has 932 infected with covid-19 and 40 dead.
In Africa, there are 17,767 confirmed deaths in more than 848,000 infected in 54 countries, according to the most recent statistics on the pandemic in that continent.
The covid-19 pandemic has claimed more than 649,000 lives and infected more than 16.2 million in 196 countries and territories, according to a report by the French agency AFP.
