Shanghai orders twin tests to stem Covid spread

Beijing/Shanghai, April 3

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China’s business capital Shanghai on Sunday ordered the city’s entire 26.3 million people to undergo twin tests to stop the spread of Covid-19, as the country reported 13,146 new cases, the highest daily increase in the number of infections in the latest outbreak.

Shanghai will conduct city-wide antigen testing on Sunday and nucleic acid testing on Monday amid efforts to contain the recent resurgence of Covid-19 cases in the metropolis, according to the local authorities.

The testing measures are aimed at completely eliminating potential risks, cutting off the chain of transmission, curbing the spread of the virus, and achieving dynamic zero Covid-19 cases as soon as possible, the official media quoted Wu Qianyu, an official with the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, as saying.

Shanghai reported 438 confirmed locally transmitted Covid-19 cases and 7,788 asymptomatic carriers on Saturday. Wu said Shanghai was building more temporary hospitals to accommodate Covid-19 patients and major exhibition sites, including the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre and Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), which are being turned into temporary hospitals and quarantine centres. The temporary hospitals are used to treat patients with mild symptoms or those who are asymptomatic. —