Shanghai warns public to avoid crowds as it prepares to test 14 million residents for coronavirus on Saturday
- ‘Please refrain from going to public venues that are densely crowded without good ventilation systems,’ said the deputy Shanghai health commissioner
- At least 14 million residents in seven of the city’s 16 districts will be required to undergo nucleic acid tests on Saturday
“We want to urge the residents again to avoid crowding,” Zhao Dandan, deputy Shanghai health commissioner told a press briefing. “Please refrain from going to public venues that are densely crowded without good ventilation systems.”
At least 14 million residents in seven of the city’s 16 districts will be required to undergo nucleic acid tests on Saturday as the municipal government strengthens virus control amid rising cases.
Shanghai has detected 118 Covid-19 carriers since lockdown ended, a drop in the ocean compared to the total caseload of about 626,600 between March 1 and May 31.
But a rising number of infections found outside quarantined areas increases the risk of a sporadic spread of the virus after companies and retailers resumed operations to get the ailing local economy back on track.
“The 32 cases in communities could spread quickly and lead to an explosive growth in the number of new infections within just a few days if they were not spotted promptly,” said Meng Tianying, a senior executive at Shanghai-based consultancy Domo Medical. “City officials are still wary of hidden transmission chains and feel it necessary to conduct mass testing to screen for new infections in the populous districts.”
On Thursday, the local health commission announced that three employees at a popular beauty salon in the city’s downtown Xuhui district were found to have caught the virus. This has triggered a campaign to track and trace some 502 customers from 15 districts known to have visited the premises in the previous eight days.
Two more cases involving people who had visited a Suning home appliance store in northeastern Yangpu district also carried the risk of widespread transmission since they had come into contact with hundreds of shoppers, Zhao told Friday’s briefing.
Other administrative regions in the city centre, including Xuhui and Hongkou districts, plan to test all their residents on Saturday too.
Local authorities said the mass testing exercise was part of “normal” virus controls.
Shanghai Disney Resort reopened partially on Friday following an 81-day shutdown because of the disease outbreak.
The 400,000 square-metre Wishing Star Park, Blue Sky Boulevard and World of Disney Store resumed operations today with limited capacity and reduced opening hours.
Shanghai Disney said on Thursday that its team was preparing to reopen the entire resort.
The Disneyland amusement park, Disneytown and two resort hotels will remain closed until further notice.