Official: No need for Shanghai lockdown despite COVID-19 resurgence
Quarantine staff at 9 Jumenhou Road in Huangpu District's Dapuqiao Subdistrict, a medium-risk area in Shanghai.
There is no need for a citywide lockdown in Shanghai at present, despite the surging number of COVID-19 cases reported recently, according to a senior local government official.
Based on the current pandemic situation, Shanghai will designate several key areas according to the regional risk levels and conduct nucleic acid testing block by block, Gu Honghui, the city's deputy secretary general, said on Tuesday.
Outside the key areas, companies are encouraged to stagger their work hours and allow employees to work from home to reduce mobility.
"Such measures are expected to help achieve the dynamic 'zero-COVID-19' target at social level soon and let citizens to return to normal life," Gu told a press briefing.
"We have not locked down the city and don't have to do that now," he added.
Shanghai has reported a total of 94 locally transmitted novel coronavirus infections and 861 local asymptomatic cases since the resurgence of COVID-19 epidemic beginning on March 1.
Gu said the city is at a critical stage of the pandemic as the task of curbing the spread of the virus remains arduous.
Among the new infections, about 90 percent are asymptomatic patients infected with the highly-contagious Omicron variant, which is spreading rapidly and is hard to detect.
This round of the pandemic mainly involves crowded places such as shopping malls, supermarkets, wholesale markets, public bathrooms, community activity centers, schools and hospitals as well as key groups such as supermarket employees, shuttle drivers, quarantine site staff and retirees.
The chain of transmission is complicated, Gu suggested.
Furthermore, a mixture of imported cases as well as domestic and local infections has put great pressure on the city's quarantine accommodations and medical resources, he pointed out.
Residents are quarantined at a medium-risk community in the city.
The trend of local COVID-19 cases and asymptomatic cases in Shanghai since March 1.
The city government has enhanced management on people leaving and returning to Shanghai and asked residents not to leave the city unless absolutely necessary.
A negative nucleic acid test report is required at local transport hubs and operations at all long-distance bus terminals have been suspended.
All local elementary and secondary schools have moved their teaching online, while all kindergartens, nursery schools, training organizations and day-care centers have suspended offline operations.
In addition, all large exhibitions, art performance and other gathering events have been banned.
Fourteen inspection teams have been dispatched to oversee COVID-19 prevention measures at key sites and various business sectors, both openly and in secret.
Gu revealed that an investigation team has been established to look into the central quarantine site at Huating Hotel & Towers in Xujiahui, which has been cited as the origin of the city's current COVID-19 outbreak.
Additional measures have been taken to further curb the spread of the virus.
All local universities have been under quarantined management for full COVID-19 screenings. The restrictions will be loosened only after everyone on campus tests negative twice, said Yang Zhenfeng, deputy director of the Shanghai Education Commission. All the teachers and staff must undergo weekly nucleic acid tests.
A student of Jiao Tong University's Minhang campus tested positive at a local hospital and additional abnormal results were detected in follow-up nucleic acid testing. The campus has been under quarantine amid epidemiological investigation and infected cases have been transferred to designated hospitals, Yang disclosed.
Shanghai will stick to the chief target of dynamic "zero-COVID-19" at social level with key strategies to "reduce mobility" and "expand screening and testing," according to Wu Fan, deputy dean of Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University and a member of the city's COVID-19 prevention experts' team.
Quarantine staff in hazmat suits have their meal at the medium-risk area on Jumenhou Road.
Shanghai reported four locally transmitted COVID-19 cases with mild symptoms on Tuesday afternoon.
Shanghai reported four locally transmitted COVID-19 cases with mild symptoms and 101 local asymptomatic cases on Tuesday afternoon.
All the new and asymptomatic cases tested positive after being centrally quarantined or screened as close contacts of previous cases, according to Lu Taohong, deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission.
The new local cases, aged between 31 and 65 years, have been sent to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center for treatment and quarantine. They are residents of Fengxian and Xuhui districts as well as the Pudong New Area, and all are in stable condition.
Meanwhile, the Shiquan Community Cultural Activity Center on 33 Ningqiang Road, Putuo District, was degraded to a low-risk area from medium risk at 3pm on Tuesday.
So, Shanghai now has nine medium-risk COVID-19 areas.
They are: 9 Jumenhou Road in Huangpu's Dapuqiao Subdistrict; 760 Loutang Road in Jiading District's Industrial Zone; 1578 Hongmei Road S. in Minhang District's Meilong Town; 1811 Xuefu Road in Jinshan District's Jinshanwei Town; 281 Changdao Road in Pudong's Hudong Community Subdistrict; 233 Henan Road N. in Jing'an District; 1200 Caoxi Road N. in Xuhui; the No. 1 building at 3705 Bao'an Highway in Jiading and the Yonghui Supermarket outlet on Huting Road N. in Songjiang District.
Since the surge of local cases began on March 1, the city had screened a total of 13,105 people who had close contact with positive cases as of 2pm on Tuesday. Among them, 12,176 have tested negative and the rest are undergoing examinations.
The Shiquan Community Cultural Activity Center on 33 Ningqiang Road, Putuo District, has been degraded to a low-risk area.
