Shanghai will conduct a new round of nucleic acid testing for key regions from Wednesday to Thursday, as the city struggles in its toughest fight against Omicron, the authorities said on Wednesday, dismissing rumors of a citywide lockdown.
The city insists on a scientific, targeted and dynamic zero-COVID policy, focusing on the improvement of weaknesses found during epidemic prevention and control, Wu Jinglei, director of Shanghai Health Commission said at Wednesday’s press briefing. Wu called for the public to not spread rumors that cause panic and called for each citizen to safeguard the city in a positive way.
Shanghai indeed faces the most severe and complex challenge since epidemic prevention and control began on a regular basis, Wu said. Shanghai reported on Tuesday four local COVID-19 cases and 977 local asymptomatic infections, while there are 15 medium-risk regions for COVID-19 so far, according to the authorities.
Among the four confirmed cases, three were found in the closed-loop mechanism; among the 977 silent carriers, 886 were found in closed-loop management, according to the authorities.
Shanghai has renovated some stadiums as backup quarantine sites for mild COVID-19 cases and asymptomatic carriers. For close contacts, 14 days of centralized observation and seven days of self-health management will be required, and seven nucleic acid tests will be conducted during this period, according to the authorities.
After the latest round of nucleic acid screening in key and non-key areas, a number of communities have been released from closed-loop management after they met the related requirements. “My residential community was under closed-loop management for two days, but we were free to move after the nucleic acid screening was normal,” a 36-year-old female local resident surnamed Yang told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Despite the latest round of epidemic in Shanghai raising a heated discussion online and the “lockdown” rumor also becoming popular among most Shanghai residents’ WeChat moments on Tuesday, many residents said that they do not panic and expressed their understanding and positive attitude toward the fight against the virus.
The “lockdown” rumor has gained over 160 million clicks on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo, with many criticizing those who spread rumors that cause panic as some residents tried to buy more daily commodities than ordinarily.
“We trust the official information. Indeed, our daily lives have been affected due to this round of epidemic in varying degrees; but the entire city’s residents are fighting together,” one netizen wrote. “We hope Shanghai can defeat the virus as soon as possible.”
Shanghai authorities on Tuesday night immediately denied the rumor which claimed that the city will be put under lockdown for seven days after an inspection team of the State Council arrived in Shanghai.
Six subway stations in suburban Jiading district of the city on Metro lines 13 and 14 have suspended operation from Wednesday due to COVID-19 resurgences, and will be closed until further notice, the authorities said on Wednesday.
Some residential communities will be still under closed-loop management after 48 hours of screening for nucleic acid results. “There may be a delay due to the screening methods,” Wu Fan, deputy dean of the Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University explained at the press briefing.
Shanghai used mixed screening amid this round of mass screening which is different with ordinary nucleic acid testing during normal times, Wu said. For instance, if there’s a positive sample found amid a 20:1 pooled sampling, the 20 persons need to be tested again.
“We still insist on working at the hospital every day. We don’t gather together and basically follow the routes from home to work each day,” a working staff from a local hospital who wished to remain anonymous told the Global Times on Wednesday. “Many colleagues have been community volunteers and actively face all challenges.”
Passenger flow in Shanghai Metro less than normally amid the latest round of Omicron outbreak in Shanghai on Tuesday Photo: VCG
