Residential area evacuated after 3 cases in city
Print Edition
Shanghai authorities began evacuating a residential neighborhood near the historic Bund riverfront after health officials discovered three new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases yesterday.
The residential area on Zhaotong Road south of Fuzhou Road in Huangpu District, where the confirmed cases live, has been listed as a medium-risk zone, while other parts of the city remain low risk.
Huangpu District immediately carried out closed-loop management for the Zhaotong residential area, including in-time nucleic acid tests, disinfection and household information collection.
Due to the worn-out facilities of the neighborhood, residents will be transferred in different batches to designated hotels for their two-week central quarantine. They will take the second round of nucleic tests on the 12th day of quarantine.
According to Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the newly infected, a 56-year-old man surnamed Li, is a worker at Shanghai Cancer Center’s Xuhui branch.
The second infected person is a 53-year-old man surnamed Zhou, who is Li’s neighbor, and a worker at Renji Hospital’s Puxi branch.
The two hospitals have already suspended their outpatient services from yesterday.
The third case, a 48-year-old female surnamed Tian, is a friend of Li. She tested positive after Li’s close contacts were screened.
The three of them have been transferred to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center for treatment and observation.
An epidemiological investigation team was created to track the recent close contacts of the infected patients.
So far, 71 close contacts of the three cases have been traced, with 37 testing negative in the first-round nucleic tests. The rest are still being screened.
All the close contacts are under quarantine for medical observation and will be tested again 24 hours after the first tests. Seventy-eight contacts of the 71 close contacts are also under quarantine.
Also, major medical institutes began mass testing their staff early yesterday.
Ruijin Hospital in Xuhui District began testing its personnel at around 11am, including medical staff, logistics workers and administration workers. A total of 15,000 should have taken their tests by today. Chen Erzhen, deputy dean of the hospital, said an emergency team for nucleic acid screening was established overnight.
Huashan Hospital in Jing’an District has set up temporary tents for screening. About 120 workers will take samples from over 10,000 people in the hospital including staff and family members of patients.
Other medical institutes, including the mental health center, have also arranged for nucleic acid tests for its workers.
The two hospitals with new cases, Renji Hospital’s Puxi branch on Shandong Road M. and Shanghai Cancer Center’s Xuhui branch on Dong’an Road, have both carried out epidemiological investigations and closed-loop management after the suspension of their outpatient services.
To ensure radiotherapy and chemotherapy services for patients, the Cancer Center will make arrangements for those with negative test results at its Pudong branch.
Currently, over 6,000 medical personnel at the two hospitals have been screened, with no suspected symptoms reported.
High-risk groups such as medical workers and cold-chain transport staff will be required to take tests regularly based on their risk of exposure to the virus.
Fever clinics and nucleic acid test institutes across the city will also be further developed to form an efficient screening network.
Wu Jinglei, director of Shanghai Health Commission, said the city currently had 125 nucleic acid test centers in Shanghai, with a daily capacity of 728,000 people.
Apart from intensified screening, health checks at key locations including airports and piers will be strengthened. Unnecessary travel outside the city is not recommended to reduce mobility during the Spring Festival holiday next month.
Those in medium-risk areas should not leave the city. If they need to, they must provide negative nucleic acid test results within seven days.
Zhang Wenhong, the city’s top infectious disease expert and leader of its COVID-19 treatment team, said he didn’t think there would be a huge outbreak in the city and was confident in Shanghai’s ability to cope with new cases.
“This is not a random event, as many provinces across the nation have reported new cases recently,” said Zhang. “But we have reacted both in-time and effectively to cope with the virus.”
He said a quick response in containing the spread of the virus was pivotal and called for joint efforts of society.
“The close contacts of the infected cases are so far negative, which means people have been following health protocols carefully, such as wearing masks, washing hands and social distancing,” he said.
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