The Shanghai Book Fair opened at the Shanghai Exhibition Center on August 14, 2019. Photo: Chen Xia/GT

As the COVID-19 epidemic wanes across the Chinese mainland, one of the country's most highly anticipated annual book fairs, the Shanghai Book Fair, will be held between August 12 and 18 as scheduled, with its exhibition area expanded compared to previous events to ensure that social distancing is practiced. 

The total exhibition area of the book fair's main venue, the Shanghai Exhibition Center, will be expanded to 26,000 square meters, 10.8 percent larger than the previous years' events, in a bid to ensure book lovers can practice social distancing. 

Other coronavirus prevention and control measures will include setting up a medical team in the exhibition center, controlling the flow of people to reduce personnel density, and evacuating the exhibition center for cleaning and disinfection. 

Xu Jiong, director of the Shanghai Municipal Press and Publication Bureau, who introduced this year's event during a press conference on Thursday, suggested that publishing houses and exhibitors bring fewer copies of their books to the venue to save space for visitors and ensure social distancing is practiced, and encouraged book lovers to buy books online. 

Besides, visitors to the book fair have to register with their real names and ID card numbers, present green health codes, and wear face masks while in the exhibition areas. 

This year, the organizer will set up the online book fair with unprecedented efforts, to initiate a "future" book fair, with online and offline book fairs at the same time. 

Zhang Wenhong, director of the department of infectious diseases from Shanghai's Huashan Hospital, who rose to fame in the fight against COVID-19, will attend the activities held during the event.