Most parts of Shanghai ordered to undergo mass PCR screening
Print Edition
SHANGHAI launched an urgent mass nucleic acid screening in a dozen districts from yesterday evening after the movements of people linked to a local high-risk area were found spreading across the city.
Mass polymerase chain reaction tests will be conducted twice in nine districts — Huangpu, Xuhui, Changning, Jing’an, Putuo, Hongkou, Yangpu, Minhang and Baoshan — as well as parts of the Pudong New Area and Jiading and Fengxian districts through tomorrow.
Every resident and those in street shops and hotels in these districts are subject to the mandatory testing, the city’s COVID-19 prevention and control authority said in a statement.
Shanghai reported several locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Sunday and Monday, who had been to 148 Lanxi Road in Putuo, which yesterday morning was elevated to a high-risk area, the city’s third.
“According to epidemiological investigation, there are frequent movements among the risky groups linked to the site, who later went to multiple districts and public venues across the city,” the statement said.
“Potential risks of further community transmission exist,” it added. The screening aims to consolidate the fruits of previous COVID-19 prevention and control measures, while detecting and bringing the risks under control sooner, according to the authority.
No lockdown will be imposed. During the screening, people within the districts must have a 48-hour negative PCR report to leave or enter their communities, companies and other public venues.
Students taking part in the gaokao, or the national college entrance examination, which were postponed from June to this week — from tomorrow to Saturday — in the city due to the pandemic, can leave or return to their neighborhoods with the exam certificates.
Parents accompanying examinees or students taking part in other key exams are also allowed to exit or enter their communities during the PCR screening.
Shanghai reported two community infections on Sunday and Monday, respectively, after having zero community cases for nearly a week.
Both the asymptomatic case and the confirmed case had been to the commercial complex at 148 Lanxi Road in Putuo’s Caoyang Community, known as China’s first worker’s community that was set up in the 1950s.
The 37-year-old woman had been to a teahouse, while the other case, a 22-year-old woman, had visited the FreePort KTV at the same complex in the last two weeks, according to their publicized movements.
Apart from the KTV and teahouse, the complex also houses a spa, a gym, a digital mall and an Internet cafe as well as several restaurants and cafes, according to a search on Baidu Map.
More than 200 close contacts of the duo had been tracked for PCR tests and central quarantine, according to the city’s health commission.
There are currently three high-risk areas in Pudong and Putuo, along with eight medium-risk areas in Jing’an, Fengxian, Putuo, Baoshan and Huangpu. The medium-risk areas in Fengxian and Jing’an will be downgraded to low risk from today.
The city already requires all of its districts to organize mass testing of residents every weekend until the end of July. Residents also need to test themselves every three days in order to enter public areas such as shopping malls or take public transport.
Although China’s most populous city has lifted a two-month-long lockdown of its 25 million residents, it still imposes targeted curbs on movements whenever a COVID case is found outside quarantined areas.
Meanwhile, the northwestern city of Xi’an, which reported 18 local infections in a flare-up driven by the BA.5.2 sub-variant, will from today suspend operations at various entertainment venues, dining at restaurants and big events for seven days, a government official said yesterday.
City official Zhang Xuedong said that Xi’an would implement “seven-day temporary control measures” that would “allow society to quieten down as much as possible, reduce mobility ... and cut the risk of cross-infection.”
Public entertainment venues, including pubs, Internet cafes and karaoke bars, would shut their doors from midnight today, the city government said in a notice.
Restaurants will not be allowed to serve diners indoors but may continue to offer takeaway services.
Schools are to start the summer holiday early and universities will seal off their campuses.
East China’s Anhui Province, which is also combating the latest COVID-19 resurgence, has taken a range of measures to guarantee the supply of daily necessities.
From June 26 to July 4, a total of 186 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 895 asymptomatic carriers had been logged in the latest epidemic resurgence in Anhui, with the majority of cases being reported in Sixian County, the provincial health commission said yesterday.
Footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed empty streets in Sixian over the weekend and people lining up for their sixth round of mass testing in recent days.
Provincial Governor Wang Qingxian urged local authorities to “seize every minute and earnestly implement quick screening” as well as rapid quarantine and reporting of cases, in a statement published by the Anhui government on Monday.
More than 60 supermarkets have been arranged to supply daily necessities to residents in the virus-hit Sixian, where 52 confirmed cases and 164 asymptomatic carriers were reported on Monday alone.
Neighboring Jiangsu Province also reported 66 new local infections across four cities on Monday.
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