Medical workers give residents in Shanghai nucleic acid tests. Photo:Yang Hui/GT

The goal of coronavirus prevention and control is to "get ahead of the virus and stop the outbreak as quickly as possible", Zhang Wenhong, China's leading infectious disease expert and head of the Shanghai COVID-19 medical team, wrote on Weibo on Sunday, after nine new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases were reported in Shanghai since Wednesday.

Zhang compared Shanghai's epidemic prevention work to "catching a rat in a china shop", referring to efforts to curb the epidemic at the same time as minimizing its negative impact on people's social lives. 

"Until the COVID-19 vaccines are widely available, we have to run at full speed with precise control measures always in place", Zhang said. 

A rapid and targeted response was initiated immediately after the first asymptomatic infection was detected during a regular check-up, and immediately an epidemiological investigation team was established to track all the close contacts of the infected patients, according to Zhang.

Shanghai has so far reported nine new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since Wednesday, all of which are in stable condition and receiving treatment at the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, a designated COVID-19 hospital, the municipal authorities said on Saturday. 

And, 28,332 people related to the cases or their close contacts have been put under quarantine.

As one of the most successful countries in containing the pandemic, China has seen a second wave of infections with over 1,000 locally transmitted cases lately, Zhang said, noting that China has rich experience in virus prevention and control, and he has seen the "dawn of victory" in fighting the virus in Hebei Province and Northeast China.