Shanghai's COVID-19 fight 'positive' with classified screening

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Shanghai will continue "grid screening" on COVID-19 with classified areas, while recruiting more volunteers, including interpreters, among residents to assist in the campaign.

The number of new confirmed local COVID-19 cases and asymptomatic patients reported in Shanghai has been hitting daily records every day since the massive screening was launched on March 16. On Sunday, it reported 24 locally transmitted cases and 734 local asymptomatic infections.

The city has opened more makeshift central quarantine and treatment sites to treat the new cases, Wu Jinglei, director of the Shanghai Health Commission, told a press briefing on Monday.

He called the "grid screening" the foundation to achieve the "dynamic zero-COVID" target at the community level in Shanghai.

Over 30 million nucleic acid tests were conducted between Wednesday and Sunday, at both key subdistricts and towns, which have a higher risk of infection, and low-risk areas.

More positive cases were detected in the key areas, where some "regional gathering" of cases were spotted, Wu revealed. All the positive cases have been put under quarantine or medical observation.

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Smaller encirclements

"We've analyzed the infection time, area and social relationship of the new cases, along with their characteristics, for follow-up screening," Wu noted.

A new round of screening will be made step by step from key subdistricts and towns to neighborhoods and residential buildings.

"The encirclements will be gradually narrowed to reduce the impact on people's life," he added.

For subdistricts and towns reporting positive cases, an epidemiological investigation will be launched to find out close and secondary contacts. The related neighborhoods will be quarantined and further screened.

If more positive cases appear, the residential buildings they live in will be kept quarantined, while other buildings in the neighborhood will have the lockdown lifted, Wu explained.

Dr Ning Guang, president of Ruijin Hospital, insisted that Shanghai has achieved "staged progress" during the fight against the pandemic.

"The general trend is developing in a positive direction," Ning told the press briefing.

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Shanghai residents are encouraged to take part in volunteer services, mainly to support the massive screening, according to the city's spiritual civilization office, which is in charge of volunteer recruitment.

"Foreign-language interpretation is in demand to serve the city's large number of expatriates, along with other volunteer services," said Zheng Yinghao, deputy director of the office.

They include screening registration, temperature and health code check, guidance, nucleic acid testing, logistics, psychological counseling, promotion of pandemic knowledge and clarification of rumors.

Residents can register on the "Shanghai Volunteer" website (www.volunteer.sh.cn) or WeChat app to become a volunteer and apply for various anti-pandemic volunteer projects. They can also apply offline at the volunteer service station of each neighborhood committee or village.

As of Sunday, Shanghai had recruited 46,900 volunteers for its ongoing fight against the COVID-19 resurgence. They've collectively served some 522,000 hours, or over 11 hours per person, across the city.

"Some community volunteers had to work continuously for nine hours without eating," Zheng said.

There are still shortages at some posts, especially for professional services such as nucleic acid testing and sample collection, he revealed.

A free safety insurance with up to 500,000 yuan (US$78,600) in compensation will be offered to every anti-COVID volunteer. They will also receive a volunteer certificate for their contribution to Shanghai's pandemic prevention and control campaign.

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