Quarantine over at locked down hospitals
Patients and others can now leave Renji Hospital’s west branch and Shanghai Cancer Center’s Xuhui branch after their 14-day quarantine periods ended at noon on Thursday.
The two hospitals were under the close-loop management after two workers were diagnosed with COVID-19 on January 21.
At 10am, around 30 Qiangsheng taxis lined up on roads around Renji Hospital’s west branch in Huangpu District to pick up discharged patients, a taxi driver surnamed Ding told Shanghai Daily.
Patients leave the Shanghai Cancer Hospital's Xuhui branch on Thursday with the help of medical workers.
Ding said the drivers had disinfected their cars and would do so again after each trip. According to Qiangsheng, more than 100 taxis will have taken patients home on Thursday.
Many Dazhong taxis were also waiting outside the Shanghai Cancer Center’s Xuhui branch at noon.
Around 30 Qiangsheng taxis wait around the Renji Hospital's west branch in Huangpu District on Thursday to pick up patients.
Dazhong taxis wait outside the Shanghai Cancer Center's Xuhui branch on Thursday.
Nearly 300 patients were being discharged from Renji Hospital’s west branch on Thursday and many others will begging back home at other times according to individual circumstances, the hospital said.
The first patient to leave the hospital was a man from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Following treatment for coronary heart disease, he will go back to his home to enjoy the Spring Festival holiday with his family.
A family member of a patient, surnamed Huang, who was waiting at the entrance of the hospital, said she was told at midnight on Wednesday that families could visit patients on Thursday.
“I need to go inside to help my dad pack his bags for leaving and a relative will drive him home,” she said.
Family members of patients wait at the entrance to Renji Hospital's west branch being going inside to visit on Thursday.
Her father, who has heart disease should have been transferred to another hospital on January 21. But because of COVID-19, he had to stay at Renji for the past 14 days.
“The medical workers treated my dad carefully these days to control his disease and fortunately he can leave the hospital for further treatment today,” Huang said.
She was allowed inside the hospital after showing the negative results of her recent nucleic acid test and registering her information.
A wife of a man, surnamed Zhang, with a thyroid tumor was also leaving the hospital on Thursday.
“During quarantine, I chatted with her and medical workers via WeChat, and realized that her condition is good,” Zhang said. “I thank all medical workers in Renji for everything they have done for my wife.”
Barriers are removed by medical workers and police at the Shanghai Cancer Center's Xuhui branch on Thursday.
Meanwhile, many medical workers arrived at the hospital with their luggage. They had completed their quarantine at designed hotels on Thursday.
"We had no time to take our packages home," said a doctor in the anesthesiology department of Renji west branch.
The two hospitals are preparing for normal operations and will improve their plans for COVID-19 prevention and control, Wu Jinglei, director of Shanghai's health commission, said at a news conference on Thursday.
