Medical workers wearing cartoon head decorations work at a vaccination site in Xuhui district of Shanghai on November 20, 2021. Photo: Xinhua

Shanghai kept up with the level of advanced countries and regions in terms of its residents' life expectancy, infant and maternal mortality rates in 2021, Shanghai health authority revealed on Wednesday. 

According to the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, the city's major health indexes were further optimized in 2021 with the local residents' average life expectancy reaching 84.11 years, infant mortality rate dropping to 2.3 per 1,000 and maternal mortality rate dropping to 1.6 per 100,000, meaning they were at the same level as those of advanced countries and regions. 

Meanwhile, the city spared no effort in the work of epidemic prevention and control by promoting vaccination. 

As of Tuesday, 95.1 percent of the city's permanent residents have been vaccinated and 10.63 million residents have received boosters. 

A three-tiered epidemiological investigation team with 10 city-level emergency groups has been established who can stand by round-the-clock and arrive on the scene within two hours. They are capable of finishing core information survey within four hours and accomplishing preliminary epidemiological reports within 24 hours. 

Shanghai has also been endeavoring to promote the digitalization transformation of the health sector with the total number of internet hospitals increasing to 76 and the number of standard smart health houses increasing to 238. 

Besides, the city is also trying to build a health service brand of Shanghai by piloting international medical tourism. Nine medical institutions have been licensed so far. 

Global Times