Final round of tests for quarantined residents
Medical workers from Shanghai Seventh People’s Hospital take samples from residents in the Xingaoyuan Phase I residential complex in the Pudong New Area on Wednesday.
The last round of nucleic acid tests has been completed for quarantined residents in the Xingaoyuan Phase I residential compound on Wednesday, last day of the Spring Festival holiday.
The neighborhood in the Pudong New Area was listed as a medium-risk area on February 5 after a resident in the area was diagnosed with COVID-19.
On February 4, a group of 100 medical workers from Shanghai Seventh People’s Hospital went to the complex to collect samples from around 3,500 people, the hospital said.
Many medical workers offered to take the samples in the quarantined building, which is more dangerous than out in the open. Some workers shouted themselves hoarse to keep order and avoid crowds gathering, said Xue Wen, a head nurse of the hospital.
Medical workers take samples from quarantined residents in the compound in Pudong on Wednesday.
Yang Jinju, a 24-year-old nurse, said: “Decorations for celebrating the festival could be seen in the area and medical workers and residents said ‘Happy Chinese Lunar Year’ to each other.
“It makes me homesick,” he said. “Because of the pandemic, I didn't go home for my family reunion during the seven-day holiday.”
Yang was the youngest from the hospital to have supported Leishenshan Hospital, a makeshift hospital in Wuhan when it was the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in China last year.
To ensure the health of residents quarantined in the Pudong complex, there’s an online consulting service and the local hospital also lists tips for patients taking different kinds of medicine.
After three rounds of tests for COVID-19, the neighborhood is expected to be unblocked on Friday if no new cases will be found, hospital officials said.
