Shanghai phases out COVID-19 designated, makeshift hospitals
Residents line up for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests at a local community in Shanghai.
All of Shanghai's city-level makeshift hospitals will be put on hold or shut down from Wednesday, except the last remaining facility on Chongming Island, according to the city's health commission.
Most designated COVID-19 hospitals will also revert to their normal operations after environmental disinfection and quarantine of medical staff are carried out, Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the commission, said.
"As the city's COVID-19 resurgence wanes, the number of patients at both the designated and makeshift hospitals is decreasing," he told the city's COVID-19 press briefing on Tuesday.
Three city-level designated hospitals, including the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center in suburban Jinshan District, will keep operating to receive coronavirus infections.
City-level medical experts specializing in severe symptoms, infection and respiratory diseases will continue to focus on critical and elderly COVID-19 infectors.
"The city's medical resources of designated hospitals and medical staff can meet the demand for treatment of COVID-19 patients at present," Zhao stated.
Since the COVID-19 resurgence in March, Shanghai has allocated 11 city-level and 34 district-level COVID-19 designated hospitals. Most of them have been emptying their last batch of patients.
Meanwhile, the last downtown makeshift hospital, at the Shanghai New International Expo Center in the Pudong New Area, will be shut down on Wednesday, leaving the Fuxing Pavilion at the China Flower Expo in Chongming District as the last operating COVID-19 makeshift hospital.
Visitors take photos of fully blooming lotus at a park in Yangpu District.
People line up on a downtown Shanghai street for PCR screening.
Some of the suspended makeshift facilities will serve as backups, or undergo maintenance and repairs, so they can be reinitiated in case of emergency. Others will restore their original functions, Zhao revealed.
Shanghai launched its first city-level makeshift hospital at a talent apartment in Jiading on March 24.
Since then, the city has provided a total of 195,000 beds for COVID-19 patients at the temporary facilities, including many re-purposed from exhibition centers and stadiums and some newly built facilities.
The temporary facilities mainly serve COVID-19 infections with mild symptoms, asymptomatic cases and child infections. The children are accompanied by family members.
During the peak period of the coronavirus resurgence, 86,400 patients stayed in city-level makeshift hospitals, and 184,800 in district-level makeshift sites, according to the commission.
Meanwhile, the city reported three community COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, and designated three more areas as medium-risk spots. They bring the total number of such areas to 39.
The two confirmed COVID-19 cases with mild symptoms and one asymptomatic case, aged between 27 and 53 years, were reported in Yangpu as well as suburban Baoshan and Songjiang districts.
The city reported three community COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
Three more areas were lifted as medium-risk spots.
