Shanghai authorities provide update on COVID-19 control measures

Shanghai will complement its dynamic zero-COVID strategy with an effective emergency epidemic response system, Wu Huanyu, deputy director of the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Tuesday.

Wu noted that the city- and district-level centers for disease control and prevention will work together to deal with reports of infections in a rapid, accurate, and standardized manner. He explained that whenever a testing agency logs a positive nucleic acid test sample, relevant departments will locate the individual, and his or her health QR code will turn red. The CDC will then arrange a second nucleic acid test immediately.

If the individual tests positive in the second test, medical institutions will be responsible for transporting him or her to a designated hospital or makeshift hospital. CDC workers will also begin epidemiological investigations and locating close contacts simultaneously.

Locations visited by the infected person may be classified as medium- or high-risk zones depending on the assessment by experts. Quarantine and control measures will be imposed on close contacts and secondary close contacts, and disinfection measures will be implemented on the environment, venues, and articles related to the infected case.

Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission, reiterated that COVID-19 patients who have recovered and been discharged from hospitals must do self-health monitoring for seven days at home.

"Such individuals do not need to participate in nucleic acid tests at residential communities for three months after they complete the self-health monitoring," he said.

Shanghai registered 58 locally transmitted COVID-19 confirmed cases and 422 asymptomatic infections on Monday. All infections were found within quarantine and lockdown populations.