Rapid growth cycle of new COVID-19 cases broken: top health expert
A giant advertisement saying "Cheer up, Shanghai" appears in Xintiandi commercial complex.
The exponential growth of Shanghai's new COVID-19 cases has stopped under the current prevention strategies, such as rolling-type screening, the city's top coronavirus expert said on Friday.
The turning point of the epidemic will certainly appear, if the proportion of new positive cases found during the screening in areas that are not locked down keeps declining, said Dr Zhang Wenhong, head of Shanghai's COVID-19 treatment team and director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases.
Shanghai reported 29 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases with mild symptoms and 1,580 local asymptomatic infections on Thursday. Among them, 12 confirmed patients and 1,455 asymptomatic cases were detected during central quarantine. The rest were found in the screening of high-risk people.
Without the screening and other measures, the number of positive cases would have risen to at least 10,000 within half a month, considering the high transmissibility of the dominant Omicron BA.2 sub variant, Zhang told the city's daily COVID-19 press briefing.
The virus reproduction rate, known as the "R0" rate, of Omicron BA.2 is 9.5, compared with about three for the early generation coronavirus in 2020, Zhang explained.
This means a single case can infect 1,000 people within 10 days, causing exponential growth, he said.
Citizens receive PCR testing during the city's massive screenings.
Under the "rolling screening," the new cases found in quarantined groups account for about 10 percent of total new daily cases. A further decrease of the percentage requires the cooperation of Shanghai residents, Zhang said.
"If every citizen receives nucleic acid testing according to requirements during the ongoing screenings, the virus's R0 rate can be reduced to below one," he said.
Wearing a mask, taking the booster shot along with other prevention measures will also play a key role in blocking transmission of the virus.
"We will eventually win the fight, but it will take time and requires the cooperation of every citizen," he noted.
Residents who have no polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test record since March 16 are advised to receive a test at nearby hospitals, institutes or community sites before 6pm on Friday, said Wu Jinglei, director of Shanghai Health Commission.
Otherwise, their health code will turn yellow, restricting them from entering many sites and using a number of services.
More than 30 million nucleic acid tests were conducted in Shanghai between Wednesday and Sunday in key subdistricts and towns which have a higher risk of infection, and low-risk areas.
Some 2.7 million people in the key areas received additional rounds of testing between Wednesday and Thursday, said Wu.
All positive cases found during the screenings have been placed under quarantine treatment or medical observation.
Lockdowns are being removed for more subdistricts and towns where everyone has tested negative, while classified quarantines keep being imposed on other key areas, Wu said.
Residents line up to receive nucleic acid testing at a local community.
Nurse dies of asthma
Wu asked for more support, understanding and safeguards to be enhanced for front-line medical workers who have been fighting the pandemic for two years under great physical and mental pressure, especially during the recent COVID-19 resurgence in Shanghai.
He expressed deep condolence during the press briefing to the family of a Shanghai East Hospital nurse who died of asthma on Wednesday.
The nurse, Zhou Shengni, suffered an asthma attack on Wednesday evening at home, according to a hospital statement released on Friday. A relative drove her to the south branch of the hospital at 7pm after her medicine did not work.
However, they found the emergency department of the hospital had been shut for COVID-19 environmental sample collection and disinfection. Zhou was then taken to the east branch of Renji Hospital for treatment. She died there at 11pm.
Wu also called for an acceleration of epidemiological investigations, screenings, sample collections and disinfection at local hospitals, especially in emergency departments.
A community operating under quarantine in Yangpu District.
The recent trend and distribution of Shanghai's locally transmitted COVID-19 and asymptomatic cases since March 1.
