A makeshift hospital in Chongming of Shanghai Photo: Xinhua

Shanghai continued to register a record daily tally of new COVID-19 infections - over 17,000 positive cases - on Tuesday, the local authority announced on Wednesday. Officials say the epidemic situation remains grim and complicated.

The city registered 311 local confirmed cases and 16,766 asymptomatic carriers on Tuesday, bringing the total tally of positive infections to 17,077. A total of 16,300 infections were found among those under quarantine and the remaining 777 cases were discovered in related personnel at risk, according to the local health commission. 

A new round of city-wide nucleic acid or antigen testing will be carried out on Wednesday to screen out potential infections, explained Gu Honghui, a deputy secretary general of Shanghai Municipal People's Government, during a press conference on Wednesday. 

According to Gu, in key areas including compounds, companies and venues where positive infections were found between April 1 and 5, residents will take nucleic acid tests with samples of a group of 10 collected and mixed in one tube to be tested. 

People engaged in the service sector to support the operation of the city, such as couriers, will take nucleic acid tests at their jurisdiction areas. Their samples will be collected in individual tubes. 

In this round of mass screening, samples of special groups including patients with limited mobility and seniors will be collected by designated personnel. 

Meanwhile, antigen testing will be carried out in compounds, companies and venues where no positive infection was found. Personnel with positive results of antigen tests will be tested with nucleic acid testing to verify the results. 

Before this round of mass screening is completed, the entire city will continue to be placed under sectional management, Gu noted, adding that distribution of daily necessities to local residents will be secured and personnel engaged in the service sector such as the couriers will be placed under strict closed-loop management. 

In response to the public concern over food and daily necessities supply, Liu Min, deputy director of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, assured the public that despite difficulties, such as cross-provincial logistics being affected by the epidemic and delayed delivery due to insufficient capacity of terminal distribution, the authority is endeavoring in solving the difficulties and making sure the basic needs can be easily accessible. 

By smoothing the logistics and organizing the supply of materials as well as connecting supermarkets and e-commerce platforms and communities, the authority will establish a supply system to assure the materials are sent to the residents, Liu said, noting that living materials to special groups such as elderly people living alone will be secured. 

Liu also refuted the rumor that courier service will be suspended in the city, noting that riders of takeaway platforms are an important force to support the city's daily supplies and play an important role in ensuring the supply of daily needs of residents. 

According to Liu, around 11,000 riders from the city's major takeaway and e-commerce platforms are on duty every day. Management of the riders will be strengthened and their personal protection during work will be stressed. Apart from the daily nucleic acid plus antigen tests for each frontier riders, their working venues and working tools will be disinfected. 

Global Times