Volunteers help a resident register for nucleic acid test at a community in Songjiang district of Shanghai, East China, April 4, 2022. Photo: Xinhua

The risk of COVID-19 community transmission in Shanghai has been effectively contained and six districts, including Fengxian, Jinshan and Chongming have basically realized no community transmissions, Shanghai local government said on Sunday, amid the easing of a citywide lockdown for more than 15 million residents.   

Shanghai's battle against the latest COVID-19 flare-up has achieved phased results, and the number of new daily infections has steadily declined after it peaked at 27,605 on April 13, Gu Honghui, an official with the Shanghai government, said at Sunday's media briefing. He also noted that the risk of community transmissions in Shanghai has equally been effectively contained. 

On Saturday, about 9 million residents were still under closed management, while more than 15 million residents were finally allowed to gradually go outside. 

So far, six districts-Fengxian, Jinshan, Chongming, Qingpu, Songjiang, and Putuo-have basically realized no community transmissions, Gu said. 

Gu explained that if the number of new daily infections has accounted for less than 1/100,000 of the total number of people in the district for three consecutive days, which indicated that the district has basically realized no community transmissions, and If the number of new daily infections falls to zero for three consecutive days, it means that the district has no community transmissions. 

He said that Shanghai will return to regular epidemic prevention and control measures once no community transmissions are registered. 

Shanghai will continue conducting nucleic acid testing as from Sunday to May 7, and will adopt combined nucleic acid and antigen testing in some areas. 

Shanghai reported 788 confirmed, locally-transmitted and 7,084 asymptomatic cases on Sunday, the fourth consecutive day in which the number of new daily infections dropped to below 10,000. 

Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said on Sunday while inspecting Shanghai that the city is at a critical stage, urging officials to stay focused on the goal of zero community transmission, ensure all those in need are isolated and treated and prevent a rebound of COVID-19 cases. She said that communities with no new cases for seven consecutive days should be allowed to return to normal.

As of midnight Saturday, Shanghai had 342 severe cases and 61 critically-ill patients receiving treatment in designated medical facilities. 

Shanghai reported 38 COVID-19 deaths on Sunday, bringing the total death toll to 422 in the latest flare-up.

Wu Jinglei, the director of the Shanghai municipal health commission, said at the media briefing that the average age in the latest COVID-19 fatalities reported on Sunday was 80.9 and all of them had severe underlying conditions, including acute myocardial infarctions, pulmonary embolisms, and coronary heart disease, while only three had been vaccinated. 

Shanghai's public security bureau said that the city has created a "white list" for e-commerce platforms and deliverymen, and more than 87,000 deliverymen were included on the list. 

But Shanghai has cracked down on 310 cases involving illegal deliveries and detained 103 deliverymen, Shanghai police said.

Global Times