A technician disinfects a residential building where COVID-19 infections were discovered in Yangpu district, Shanghai on May 2, 2022. Photo: VCG

Authorities in a district in Shanghai delivered an apology on Saturday evening and claimed that the disinfection pills that had been dissolved in liquid and sprayed in a residential compound have been all disposed of or cleared out after people in the community had a sore throat and headache and felt sick. 

The district's anti-epidemic office vowed to keep an eye on the physical conditions of the residents and to ensure their health and safety through scientific disinfection procedures.

The anti-epidemic office of Beicai town in Pudong New Area explained that the scattered disinfection tablets were meant to disinfect the roads and sewer lines in the community being diluted by the rain. But the rainfall was too little and didn't dissolve them. The smell of the disinfectant spread and affected the residents, showing a lack of thorough consideration and professional infection methods by the anti-epidemic office.

On Saturday evening, officials from the Shanghai Patriotic Health Campaign Committee invited other districts in Shanghai to learn from this case and put an end to unprofessional and incorrect disinfection practices during COVID-19 prevention.

The committee pointed out what they consider to be not only useless, but harmful disinfection measures, including directly sprinkling disinfectant on people, in the open air and environment such as on walls, roads and lawns, as well as pouring large amounts of disinfectant or disinfection pills into drains.

Disinfection of residences to prevent COVID-19 has become a hot topic after video clips and photos were posted online in recent days showing chaotic scenes at apartments receiving mandatory disinfection.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, Jin Chen, deputy director of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-rural Development, stressed that household disinfection is an important part of epidemic prevention and control, noting that the procedures for disinfection of the homes of people who have tested positive have been standardized.