Shanghai: Chinese City Shanghai Tuesday urged public cooperation with a massive new push to test the majority of the population for Covid-19 as it tries to bring community transmission down to zero after nearly three weeks of lockdown.
This argument came after some people refused to attend PCR Test queues out of fatigue after weeks of such requirements, or fear it puts them at greater risk of infection. Residents shared stories on social media that people were being taken away from their homes and sent to quarantine, including children and the elderly.
pressure on officials Beijing To move positive cases and their close contacts to quarantine centres, fueling fears about measures designed to slow the spread of the virus rather than stop it completely.
China, where the coronavirus was first identified in late 2019 in the central city of Wuhan, has opted for a “zero tolerance” policy instead of trying to live with the virus in the community.
“By conducting multiple consecutive rounds of PCR testing, we will be able to detect positive cases at the earliest, as this will help us reach zero-Covid at the community level,” said the city health official. hu xiaobo said.
Sources have told Reuters that Shanghai aims to contain the spread of Covid-19 outside the quarantine zones by Wednesday. The target marked a turning point when other locked-down Chinese cities have allowed them to ease restrictions.
The number of new local transmissions detected on Monday fell to 19,442 from 21,395 the previous day. 550 cases were found outside the quarantine zones in Shanghai, down from 561 a day earlier and a fourth consecutive drop. While Shanghai has not yet said how it will open, it is working towards that goal by conducting daily PCR and antigen tests for millions of people and expediting quarantine transfers.
China’s COVID elimination strategy requires testing, tracing and centrally quarantining all positive cases and their close contacts. While thousands of people have already been sent to isolation centres, many others are forced to self-isolate in their homes due to their proximity to infected people.
The city has restricted movement for some people in low-risk areas, but much of its 25 million population is under strict lockdown. irrigated Up-residents and some businesses in Shanghai have argued that the costs of China’s COVID policy outweigh the benefits, especially since most cases are asymptomatic. Some experts have also expressed skepticism.
on 6th April, zhong nanshanA respiratory specialist who helped formulate China’s COVID strategy in early 2020 co-published an English editorial National Science Review In which he argued that a dynamic zero withdrawal strategy was not feasible for a long time.
The South China Morning Post reported that the piece was translated into Chinese and republished by some mainland news websites on Monday, but has since been removed. However, the Chinese President Xi Jinping The country has insisted on sticking to this strategy amid the lack of herd immunity and an unstable medical system.
In line with this, the city is speeding up the transfer of patients to quarantine centers such as converted schools and apartment blocks, which have been criticized by patients as overcrowded and unhygienic.
Some pictures posted on social media showed elderly people in wheelchairs, masked and in protective gear, approaching a bus outside a quarantine centre. Others posted stories of how their relatives, some of whom said they were over 90 or had children, were taken to makeshift hospitals in the middle of the night. Reuters could not immediately confirm the photos and videos.
Shanghai also reported that seven people infected with Covid-19 died on Monday, all of them elderly and with underlying health conditions, bringing its total death toll to 10 for the current outbreak.
This argument came after some people refused to attend PCR Test queues out of fatigue after weeks of such requirements, or fear it puts them at greater risk of infection. Residents shared stories on social media that people were being taken away from their homes and sent to quarantine, including children and the elderly.
pressure on officials Beijing To move positive cases and their close contacts to quarantine centres, fueling fears about measures designed to slow the spread of the virus rather than stop it completely.
China, where the coronavirus was first identified in late 2019 in the central city of Wuhan, has opted for a “zero tolerance” policy instead of trying to live with the virus in the community.
“By conducting multiple consecutive rounds of PCR testing, we will be able to detect positive cases at the earliest, as this will help us reach zero-Covid at the community level,” said the city health official. hu xiaobo said.
Sources have told Reuters that Shanghai aims to contain the spread of Covid-19 outside the quarantine zones by Wednesday. The target marked a turning point when other locked-down Chinese cities have allowed them to ease restrictions.
The number of new local transmissions detected on Monday fell to 19,442 from 21,395 the previous day. 550 cases were found outside the quarantine zones in Shanghai, down from 561 a day earlier and a fourth consecutive drop. While Shanghai has not yet said how it will open, it is working towards that goal by conducting daily PCR and antigen tests for millions of people and expediting quarantine transfers.
China’s COVID elimination strategy requires testing, tracing and centrally quarantining all positive cases and their close contacts. While thousands of people have already been sent to isolation centres, many others are forced to self-isolate in their homes due to their proximity to infected people.
The city has restricted movement for some people in low-risk areas, but much of its 25 million population is under strict lockdown. irrigated Up-residents and some businesses in Shanghai have argued that the costs of China’s COVID policy outweigh the benefits, especially since most cases are asymptomatic. Some experts have also expressed skepticism.
on 6th April, zhong nanshanA respiratory specialist who helped formulate China’s COVID strategy in early 2020 co-published an English editorial National Science Review In which he argued that a dynamic zero withdrawal strategy was not feasible for a long time.
The South China Morning Post reported that the piece was translated into Chinese and republished by some mainland news websites on Monday, but has since been removed. However, the Chinese President Xi Jinping The country has insisted on sticking to this strategy amid the lack of herd immunity and an unstable medical system.
In line with this, the city is speeding up the transfer of patients to quarantine centers such as converted schools and apartment blocks, which have been criticized by patients as overcrowded and unhygienic.
Some pictures posted on social media showed elderly people in wheelchairs, masked and in protective gear, approaching a bus outside a quarantine centre. Others posted stories of how their relatives, some of whom said they were over 90 or had children, were taken to makeshift hospitals in the middle of the night. Reuters could not immediately confirm the photos and videos.
Shanghai also reported that seven people infected with Covid-19 died on Monday, all of them elderly and with underlying health conditions, bringing its total death toll to 10 for the current outbreak.