People take part in the Shanghai Marathon on November 27, 2022. Photo: Du Qiongfang/GT

Shanghai authorities on Wednesday announced that the 2022 Shanghai Marathon was held successfully with "zero COVID infections" and "zero incidents," an approach to explore more experiences in hosting large people-gathering events in a safe manner amid the ongoing epidemic. The annual event, which attracted around 18,000 runners , successfully made a return on November 27 after being canceled in 2021 due to the epidemic.

As of 7:30 am on Wednesday, all runners and event staff had completed nucleic acid tests after the event and their results were all negative, said Shanghai officials. The organizer thanked all the runners, staff and other personnel for their cooperation and support, and wished the spirit of Shanghai Marathon would stay with the city to overcome difficulties and challenges.

This year, the registration was open mainly to Shanghai-based residents with Shanghai household registration or residence permit. About 200 expatriate runners, who had been resident in Shanghai for more than six months and hold a valid visa, also participated in the Marathon, according to media reports.

Along with Shanghai, some other cities also welcomed back their annual marathon. The 2022 Beijing Marathon kicked off on November 6 after a two-year hiatus due to the epidemic, with about 20,000 runners participating in the event. Chengdu Marathon, with more than 30,000 runners taking part in the event, was also held successfully without positive cases detected, the Chengdu authorities said on November 24.

All the marathon organizers have implemented strict epidemic prevention and control measures to reduce risk of viral transmission. For the Shanghai Marathon, all the runners were required to undertake a nucleic acid test three times in the three days before the event, according to the organizers. Meanwhile, a full regime of COVID-19 vaccination was required for each runner, while those located in high risk areas were not permitted to sign up for the event.

Global Times