The city government is seeking to further optimize the definition of COVID-19 close contacts with scientific judgment while avoiding “simplistic sweeping measures,” according to the Shanghai Health Commission.
The city government has called for more efforts to be put into epidemiological surveys and source tracking to find the origin of risks and cut community transmission.
Meanwhile, appeals from residents must be heard patiently and their difficulties must be solved with all-out efforts, said Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the health commission.
Shanghai has launched strict COVID-19 prevention and control measures to clear social transmission as soon as possible.
The city government has stressed the importance of scientifically defining close contacts during the epidemiological investigation.
During a visit to an old residential neighborhood in Yangpu District on Sunday, Shanghai’s Party Secretary Li Qiang called for conducting “regulated and detailed” epidemiological surveys on positive cases and defining their close and secondary contacts scientifically and carefully.
“We must react to public opinion in time and explain the COVID-19 prevention policies clearly,” Li stressed.
Since the city’s COVID-19 resurgence in early March, a total of 797,242 close contacts of positive cases have been tracked and put under central quarantine for further testing, according to Zhao.
Local authorities have also been improving medical services and supply of daily necessities to residents amid the strict coronavirus prevention and control measures.
Local medical institutes and community health centers are offering prescription services with a maximum of three-month supplies of medicines, Zhao revealed.
Volunteers can go to pick up the medicines for residents who are under lockdown or other COVID-19 control measures.
Additionally, online prescription services have been available on the city’s health app Jiankangyun since April 12, Zhao noted.
More than 600 doctors and pharmacists from public hospitals have issued 135,000 prescriptions and served more than 400,000 patients. Around 8,000 medicines are being delivered to patients every day, with over 2,600 drugstores having resumed operations as of Sunday.
Shanghai has also received a total of 18,915 tons of daily supplies from other provinces and cities during the COVID-19 resurgence, including vegetables, fruits, meat, rice, instant food and potable water, said Luo Zhisong, chief economic engineer of the city’s commerce commission.
These supplies have been delivered to residents under long-time lockdown, vulnerable groups and front-line anti-COVID-19 workers, Luo added.
Shanghai’s daily infection numbers declined to a total of 3,947 on Sunday, according to data released by the city government yesterday. The city reported 11 more COVID-19 deaths with the casualties having an average age of 78.9 years. All had severe underlying conditions, and only two of them had been vaccinated.
Of COVID-19 patients in local designated and makeshift hospitals, 415 have severe symptoms and 80 are in critical condition.
According to the results of the polymerase chain reaction plus antigen screening, 17.37 million local residents, or about 70 percent of Shanghai’s total population, are in precautionary areas — communities, villages and businesses without a positive case in the last two weeks.
The number of residents in locked-down areas has declined to 2.3 million, while 3.62 million people are in controlled areas, Zhao noted.
Besides, the city’s courier service will resume soon as local authorities have released a list of the first batch of 21 postal and express companies that can resume work. They include EMS, SF Express, JD Logistics and Cainiao.