Two suburban districts in Shanghai achieved the dynamic zero-COVID-19 goal yesterday amid the declining trend in the city’s pandemic resurgence.
Jinshan and Chongming districts hit the target on a community level, according to Wu Qianyu, a senior health commission official. The target means the resurgence is under control without any community transmissions.
According to the districts’ WeChat accounts, Jinshan reported seven new positive cases yesterday, and Chongming Island reported 75.
“Citywide, the community spread has been effectively curbed,” Wu said at the city’s daily COVID-19 press briefing. She added that the number of new cases has been declining for three consecutive days in subdistricts and towns that report more than 100 daily new cases.
The city reported 2,494 local COVID-19 cases and 16,407 asymptomatic infections on Tuesday, including 533 confirmed patients who were previously asymptomatic, according to Wu.
That number is 5 percent less than Monday and 14 percent lower than Sunday.
Meanwhile, a total of 27,093 COVID-19 patients were discharged from designated or makeshift hospitals on Tuesday, a 16 percent increase over the previous day.
The number of cases has been trending downward over the past three days in the Pudong New Area, Minhang, Songjiang, Qingpu and Putuo districts, while conditions in Xuhui, Yangpu, Hongkou, Changning and Baoshan districts are fluctuating, Wu noted.
The situation in Huangpu District is still trending upward, while the number of new cases in Jing’an District is rising slowly. Infections in Fengxian, Jinshan and Chongming remain at a low level, according to Wu.
However, Shanghai reported seven new deaths among its COVID-19 patients on Tuesday, bringing the total since the resurgence in March to 17.
The seven deaths — two under the age of 60 and five older than 70 — died of severe underlying diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, severe hypertension and brain infarction. Two of them had been vaccinated.
A complete COVID-19 vaccine regimen can reduce severe symptoms and death among elderly people by 70 percent, while booster shots can further reduce the risks by 90 percent, said Sun Xiaodong, deputy director of the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Among Shanghai’s COVID-19 patients, 19 percent are over 60 and 2 percent are older than 80.