Passion in blood donation picking up as COVID-19 wanes in Shanghai

Ti Gong

All the city's blood donation venues have reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic waned, but authorities are enforcing strict rules to fight the virus.

They are encouraging donors to make advance reservations in line with coronavirus prevention and control measures, local health officials said on Tuesday, World Blood Donor Day.

Donors must have a negative PCR report from within the previous 72 hours and scan the digital sentry outside the blood donation site before entering.

Last year, people in Shanghai donated a record 539,300 units of blood. Since June 1, when Shanghai lifted the two-month citywide lockdown, 1,511 people have gone all the way to donate 2,642 units of full blood and 756 people donated 1,336 units of platelets.

According to He Zhichun, director of the Shanghai Blood Center, about 90 percent of blood donors in the city are people younger than 40.

To encourage more young people to raise their hand to donate, the center has developed many campaigns and souvenirs to meet their demands and tastes.

This time, the center is cooperating with the Shanghai Animation Film Studio to make a cartoon with the legendary Monkey King as the hero to promote knowledge and understanding about donating blood.

Blood donors can now get a special Monkey King stamp on their blood donation certificate.

Ti Gong

Ti Gong