Security staff and deliverymen on Sunday work at an entrance to the Mingtian Huacheng residential area in Zhoupu town in Shanghai's Pudong, categorized as a medium-risk region on Saturday, to ensure residents' daily lives can proceed without disruption. Photo: GT

The Mingtian Huacheng residential community in Shanghai's Zhoupu town was locked down about two hours after two COVID-19 cases involving local residents were confirmed, a security guard who asked not to be named told the Global Times on Sunday. 

The community is now under closed management and has been declared a medium-risk area, the guard said. 

All residents in the community were tested for the virus overnight on Friday. 

"I was told to take the test around 10 pm Friday," a resident living in the community surnamed Wang told the Global Times on Sunday, noting that her neighbors and other residents all seem to stay at home.

Chinese netizens praised Shanghai's quick response after five local sporadic COVID-19 cases were revealed in the city in the last three days. Many netizens said the municipal government's timely move will "win the hearts and minds of Shanghai citizens."

Shanghai Party Secretary Li Qiang, Mayor Gong Zheng and a team of experts from disease control departments held a 2.5-hour meeting, Zhang Wenhong, a prominent Chinese infectious disease expert, wrote in a post on his Weibo account on Sunday.

Shanghai reported two more local COVID-19 cases on Sunday, both close contacts to previous confirmed patients.

The Shanghai government's official social media account, disclosed late Saturday night that 15,416 residents had been tested for the coronavirus, and one additional case was confirmed. The discovered infected person, 29, is a co-worker of the airport freight security checker who was confirmed to have COVID-19 on Friday, the Shanghai Health Commission said.

A comprehensive screening of the airport cargo area, where the two workers, who were confirmed on Friday, has been completed and a series of precise prevention and control strategies have been implemented, Zhang wrote.

At the Xinsheng community in Zhuqiao county, where the 29-year-old airport worker lives, the Global Times saw couriers leaving parcels for residents at a police cordon around 100 meters from the compound entrance. All the residents of this community have also been tested for the virus, according to media reports. 

Police, security staff and couriers were seen at the entrances to the residential compounds under lockdown to ensure residents receive their daily needs.

A food delivery carrier surnamed Wang, told the Global Times on Sunday that daily orders over the last two days at the Mingtian Huacheng community have been double the normal amount. "They want more daily commodities," Wang said, referring to lockdown residents. He said he was in his 14th hour on the job. 

The Xinsheng community in Zhuqiao county, the Mingtian Huacheng residential area in Zhoupu town and a community in Zhangjiang are now marked as medium-risk regions and residents are being asked not to leave Shanghai. Those who must leave the city have to submit a nucleic acid test negative certification taken within the last seven days. 

A resident of a nearby community in Zhuqiao, surnamed Wang, said he wasn't worried about the coronavirus spreading further. "Our life is not affected, and everything is in order," Wang said. 

Global Times