Pop-up window on health code for Shanghai travelers, returnees
People traveling or returning to Shanghai from other provinces will receive a pop-up notification covering their health code, if they fail to undergo a nucleic acid test within 48 hours of their arrival.
The city's health commission made the announcement on Sunday as Shanghai tries out a new way to enhance COVID-19 prevention and control amid the new round of resurgence, mainly transmitted from other provinces during the weeklong National Day holiday.
The pop-up window will prevent travelers from displaying their Suishenma health code, banning them from accessing most of Shanghai's public services, transport and places.
It will disappear after a nucleic acid test record is detected, Yu Tao, deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission, told the city's COVID-19 press briefing on Sunday.
Shanghai reported two COVID-19 community cases on Sunday, including an elementary school student who was infected by a previous local case.
The 12-year-old boy, who lives in Wujing Town in Minhang District, was connected with an infection reported on Friday from northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Apart from his accommodation, he had been to a trampoline park, another community and the private Zizhu Bilingual School in Minhang.
The other case, a 27-year-old woman, a resident of Xianxia Community in Changning District, tested abnormal during a recent regular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening after returning home from her travel to other provinces.
Since returning, she had been to an office building and its underground Luckin Coffee outlet in Changning.
As a result, the duo's accommodations and the trampoline park were designated as medium-risk areas and put under lockdown, said Yu.
A total of 192 close contacts of the new cases have been traced and put under central quarantine. Among them, 104 have tested negative. More than 1,465 related people have been screened, and all tested negative, he revealed.
Shanghai has reported some 90 COVID-19 positive cases since October 1, the beginning of the National Day holiday, mainly travelers from other provinces and their close contacts, according to the commission.
Multiple schools in Minhang have been affected by the resurgence among the district's 400-plus elementary and middle schools as well as kindergartens, Liu Yan, deputy director of Minhang, noted.
The COVID-related schools have shifted to online classes, including livestreaming and online tutoring from teachers. Round-the-clock psychological counseling is available for students under lockdown.
Other schools with normal offline classes have strengthened their anti-COVID-19 management and asked students and teachers to enhance self-protection, said Liu.
Shanghai requires people traveling or returning to the city from other provinces to report their itinerary online before arrival. Every traveler coming or returning to Shanghai also must take a nucleic acid test upon arrival.
They are also required to conduct a weeklong self-health monitoring – take a temperature check in the morning and at night – every day. In addition, they must reduce unnecessary gathering activities and properly wear a mask when going out, Yu said.
Travelers coming from domestic COVID-19-related regions must report to neighborhood or village committees and companies or hotels within 12 hours after arriving in Shanghai.