Community infection reported as overall numbers down
Citizens visit a reopened drugstore in a precautionary area.
Shanghai reported a community COVID-19 case on Friday amid a sharp decrease in the city's total infection numbers.
A 67-year-old woman living in Fangsong Subdistrict, on the outskirts of Songjiang District, tested positive and showed mild symptoms such as a cough and sore throat. She had taken three COVID-19 vaccine injections.
Three close contacts, her son, daughter-in-law and 13-year-old grandson who lived with her, also tested positive during follow-up screening. They also showed mild symptoms. They had received at least two shots of vaccines.
The four cases have been transferred to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center for quarantined treatment.
The community at 585 Binhu Road has been elevated to a medium-risk area, the Shanghai Health Commission said. It brings to three the total number of local medium-risk areas in the city.
"The family is the smallest unit and the first transmission chain of the coronavirus, so we must enhance our awareness to create a healthy family environment to block the spread of the virus," said Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the commission.
According to an epidemiological investigation, the four have not left the Fangsong Subdistrict in the past two weeks.
But they had shopped at a nearby meat store, restaurant, supermarket and a pet hospital near the community. All of these places have been quarantined and disinfected.
Another 10 close contacts have been quarantined and tested negative. Seventy-three among the 84 secondary contacts have also tested negative. Others are still being tested.
One environmental sample among the 125 pieces collected at their home tested positive.
After the new infection was detected, all the 3,797 people in the community were asked to stay at home, said Gu Jieyan, deputy director of Songjiang.
She promised to guarantee the supply of daily necessities and medical services to residents, while driving the resumption of work at companies in Songjiang.
A hairdresser serves citizens at an open-air square.
Shanghai has reported five COVID-19 cases at community level since it announced it had achieved zero community transmission citywide. Another four community cases were detected in a village of Xujing Town on the outskirts Qingpu District on May 20 and Juyuan New Area in the outskirts of Jiading District on May 25.
There are two possible ways people can become infected at the community level. They either have contact with other infected people, or are in an environment contaminated by the virus, said Sun Xiaodong, deputy director of the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
When any community case is detected epidemiological investigators will rush to the site to trace the origin of the infection, close and secondary contacts, as well as conduct environmental disinfection, Sun said.
"With these measures, even if some new cases popped up, we can prevent the resurgence of the pandemic," Sun said. "There is no need to worry about that."
According to stipulation, a local community, village or company will be rated as high-risk area if at least 10 positive cases or two gathering outbreaks are reported within two weeks.
If less than 10 cases or one gathering outbreak are reported in the last two weeks, the place will become a medium-risk areas, according to Zhao.
People in the high and medium-risk areas will have to stay at home and receive a PCR test every day for two weeks. If no additional case is reported for 14 days, it will be downgraded to low risk.
The number of local infections dropped by 35 percent to 170 on Friday, the first time the number was under 200 since the city's phased lockdown in late March.
Apart from the community case, other infections were mainly found among people in locked-down areas and central quarantine.
A bank staff serves a customer at a reopened Bank of Shanghai in Xuhui District.
Three precautionary districts
Three outlying districts - Jinshan, Fengxian and Chongming - have become precautionary areas after eliminating all locked-down and controlled areas.
Citywide, more than 22 million residents, 88 percent of the city's total population, are living in precautionary areas - communities, villages, companies and sites without a positive case in the past two weeks.
The number of residents in locked-down areas is 260,000, while about 890,000 are in controlled areas.
No deaths were reported on Friday, but among the COVID-19 patients under treatment in the city, there are still 114 patients in severe conditions and 31 in critical conditions, according to Zhao.
The vaccination rate among the patients in critical conditions is apparently lower than other local COVID-19 patients, mostly asymptomatic cases or with mild symptoms, said the CDC official Sun.
The rate was even lower among the critical patients over 60, Sun added.
Less than half of local COVID-19 patients in critical conditions have taken two shots of vaccines, while 23 percent among them have taken the booster shots.
Among the seniors, only 8 percent of the patients in critical conditions have received two jabs while 3 percent have taken the third shot, according to Sun.
Two shots of vaccines can reduce the rate of critical symptoms by more than 60 percent for the elderly, while the booster shot can further reduce the risks by 90 percent, he added.
Meanwhile, discharged COVID-19 patients can apply for and check the electronic version of their discharge certificates on Suishenban app.
With the paper or mobile version of the certificates, they can receive single tube PCR tests at the city's normalized PCR check sites within three months after being discharged.
A PCR testing booth at a local precautionary area.
