Shanghai starts 2nd phase of closed-off management against COVID-19

SHANGHAI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The second phase of closed-off management in Shanghai has come into force in areas west of the Huangpu River on Friday amid a recent spike in COVID-19 infections, according to local authorities.

As scheduled, nucleic acid testing will be held from Friday to April 5 for around 16 million people, and 12 districts will be put under temporary closed-off management.

The megacity in east China on Monday began its two-phase enforcement of temporary closed-off management to track possible infections and curb the spread of the virus.

Mass nucleic acid testing in areas including those on the east of the Huangpu River started Monday. In four days, over 18 million samples were collected for nucleic acid tests in two rounds of screenings, Wu Jinglei, director of the Shanghai municipal health commission, told a press conference on Friday.

Initial results showed that the second screening reported a lower rate of positive detection than the first one. The nucleic acid tests play an important role in "cutting off the chain of transmission as soon as possible" and "curbing the spread of the virus," Wu said.

Shanghai has also tightened its virus control measures and encouraged its residents not to leave the city unless necessary.

From Saturday, people leaving the city will have to either show a negative nucleic acid test result within 48 hours together with a negative antigen testing result within 24 hours, or present a negative nucleic acid test within 24 hours.

Shanghai reported 358 confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 4,144 asymptomatic carriers on Thursday, Wu said.