More residents taking tests before travel
People wait outside Ruijin Hospital in Huangpu District on Thursday to be tested for COVID-19.
An increasing number of Shanghai residents taking tests for coronavirus at designated hospitals before traveling to other cities where negative results may be required.
Many Chinese cities, including Shanghai, say people from high and medium-risk regions will be subject to 14-day quarantine along with nucleic acid tests.
Since Shanghai reported a COVID-19 case on Monday in Yingqian Village in the Pudong New Area’s Zhuqiao Town, the village has been rated as a medium-risk region.
Though the risk elsewhere in Shanghai remains unchanged, the “Travel Card” on residents mobile phones has Shanghai marked in red.
The card was released by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology along with the nation’s telecommunication carriers to show people’s travel routes based on mobile phone data.
The academy said the card marks medium or high COVID-19 risk cities or regions in red as a reminder, it is not an indication of the holder’s health.
Shanghai’s 12345 hotline suggests travelers contact health authorities, airports or hotels in their intended destination to check whether a test or quarantine is required.
People wait outside the Ruijin Hospital in Huangpu District to receive nucleic test for COVID-19 on Thursday.
For instance, the Fuzhou airport in southeast Fujian Province as well as some hotels in Beijing, Guangzhou, south Guangdong and Sanya in south Hainan Island said people from Pudong or Shanghai must provide negative results before checking.
Several hotels in other popular tourism cities such as neighboring Suzhou and Hangzhou as well as southwest Chongqing said travelers from Shanghai must acquire a green health code of the cities.
Long queues of people waiting to receive the nucleic acid test have appeared at Pudong New Area People’s Hospital since Shanghai reported the new confirmed COVID-19 case on Monday.
Many are also waiting outside the Tongren Hospital in Changning District and Ruijin Hospital in Huangpu to acquire the negative report to ensure their domestic trips won’t be affected.
It takes about four to six hours to have a test result, and the duration of the result is normally seven days, according to Tongren Hospital, a designated hospital to serve the China International Import Expo.
Shanghai already has 125 medical institutes, including hospitals and community clinics, to have the nucleic acid test capability. They can test about 621,000 samples every day, said Wu Jinglei, director of the Shanghai Health Commission.
People wait outside the Ruijin Hospital in Huangpu District to receive nucleic test for COVID-19 on Thursday.
Measures for arrivals to Shanghai
According to Shanghai’s epidemic prevention and control office, all those traveling from the high- and medium-risk regions must report to the neighborhood (village) committees and their companies or hotels within 12 hours, starting from Monday.
Those from or passing by the high-risk regions must undergo a 14-day central quarantine for health observation and take the nucleic acid tests twice.
Those from the medium-risk regions must receive a two-week strict community health management, such as home quarantine, as well as two tests.
Those coming back from abroad are still subject to a 14-day quarantine at designated hotels with nucleic acid tests. They are also allowed to undergo seven days of home quarantine after completing a weeklong concentrated quarantine in the designated places.
They must receive a nucleic acid test two days before completing the seven-day concentrated quarantine, and those with negative test results will be transported to their residences to observe home quarantine, according to the regulation.
As of Thursday, the nation’s high risk areas include four regions in Kashgar Prefecture in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. They are Shufu County’s Zhanmin and Sayibage townships as well as Tuokezhake and Wukusake towns.
The domestic regions rated as medium-risk include other regions in the Shufu Country, Shanghai’s Yingqian Village in Zhuqiao Town of Pudong, Tianjin’s Hangu Street and Zone A and B of the cold-chain logistics area of the Tianjin central fishing port, both located in the Binhai New Area as well as the Zhangyang Community, Shencheng Town of Yingshang County in Anhui’s Fuyang City.
