China's southern Guangdong Province was one of the most severely-hit regions during 2003's SARS epidemic.

In this round of the new coronavirus epidemic, the province is also one of the most affected regions in the country.

Generally speaking, the emergency responses in Guangdong are relatively mature. Citizens seem more resilient, smoothly following the government's instructions to contain the spread of the virus.

On Sunday, Guangdong reported 48 newly confirmed cases of patients infected with the coronavirus. One patient is in severe condition, and one is in critical condition. And 25 of the latest confirmed cases are in Guangzhou, the provincial capital.

So far, in total, 146 cases have been confirmed in the province but there have been no deaths. Two patients have fully recovered and have left hospital.

Up till now, 708 people who have had close contact with the virus have been tracked. All of them are under medical observation.

Zhang Guangjun, vice governor of Guangdong Province, said that although they face a challenging situation, experts say infection in the region is "preventable and controllable."

All public places should be equipped with a body temperature detector.

Now nearly 1,300 quarantine checkpoints have been set up at the entrances and exits of airports, highways, train stations, bus stations and other places for 24-hour health surveillance purposes. Public gatherings have also been prohibited.

Also, on Sunday, Guangdong provincial governments released several new measures to contain the spread of the new virus. Now, if people don't wear masks in public places, they might be fined or even prosecuted.

On top of that, Guangdong is the largest manufacturing base in China. The government has urged eight medical equipment manufacturers to restore production, increasing the supply of medical masks, goggles, and protection suits.

This is also a war against disinformation. Yesterday, rumors were flying that big cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen will implement a total lockdown like Wuhan. But today the authorities clarified that such severe quarantine measures will not be adopted. But some traffic control measures will be put into place.

In Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong, the rumors have already affected people, some of whom rushed to supermarkets to stockpile foods and necessary goods. In many stores, fresh meats sold out. On Sunday, the local authorities said their grain reserves could last for a year and they're taking measures to increase food supplies to markets.

The provincial government announced that from today it will hold a daily press conference to update the virus situation and is calling for residents not to believe rumors.

Now many residential communities in Guangzhou have spontaneously adopted voluntary measures. Security officers have restricted the access of outsiders like visitors and couriers to communities. Some neighborhoods have installed facial-recognition access control systems. So anyone, whose face is not registered in the database, would not be granted access.

All in all, people here are taking the virus very seriously. At the same time, the atmosphere here in Guangzhou remains optimistic to some extent.