People work at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in east China's Shanghai, April 6, 2022. Shanghai is converting the National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC) into a makeshift hospital with a planned capacity of 40,000 beds. Upon completion, it is expected to act as the biggest such hospital for those testing positive for COVID-19 in the metropolis. Photo: Xinhua

Shanghai will conduct a new round of city-wide COVID-19 nucleic acid and antigen tests on Friday, as the city has registered over 130,000 positive cases since the beginning of the latest flare-up, with one case in a critical condition, the Shanghai authorities said on Friday.

From March 1 to Thursday, 131,524 COVID-19 positive cases were reported including 127,131 asymptomatic cases, Wu Qianyu, an official with the Shanghai Health Commission said at Friday's press briefing.

The daily tally of COVID-19 cases and asymptomatic infections in Shanghai exceeded 20,000 on Friday for the first time since the Omicron outbreak. The number of positive cases has remained at a high level, indicating that community transmission still exists in Shanghai along with clusters of infections, and the situation remains complex and grim, Wu said.

Among all the confirmed cases, 15 percent of them are aged 18 and below, 69 percent are aged from 18 to 60 and 16 percent are aged 60 and above. The youngest infected person is 10 days old and the oldest one is 98 years old, according to the authorities.

The city on Friday reported 824 local COVID-19 cases and 20,398 local asymptomatic infections, the authorities said.

Shanghai has been making efforts to build more makeshift hospitals in order to meet the rising number of positive cases. A makeshift hospital in Minhang district, which was originally a stadium has received a total of 1,105 patients since March 23, Fan Jia, president of Zhongshan Hospital said at the press briefing. So far, 422 patients have been discharged from the makeshift hospital.

Fan said Zhongshan Hospital has sent over 300 working staff to the makeshift hospital; among them, 108 are members of the Communist Party of China.

They have set up treatment norms to ensure medical safety and treatment effect for the patients. Along with medical treatment and care, patients can have better living conditions, according to Fan.