Shanghai will fully resume normal production and life and put routinized disease prevention and control in place starting from June 1.
At the press conference on preventing and controlling COVID-19 in Shanghai held on the morning of May 31, Ms. Zong Ming, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, briefed that since the resurgence of virus, Shanghai has adhered to the overall plan of dynamic case clearing unswervingly and spared no efforts in curbing the spread of disease to protect the safety and health of the people.
Under the joint efforts of people across the city, the newly-added local positive infections were reduced to 29 on May 30. The people in the lockdown zones are controlled under 200,000 while those in the precaution zones exceed 22 million. COVID-19 in Shanghai has been brought under effective control and overall situation is trending upward. But the task of reducing new cases and preventing re-emergence of virus is challenging, it requires continued efforts as well as support and cooperation from all residents.
In accordance with the overall plan on resuming normal production and life amid on-going consolidation of achievements made in combating the disease across the city, Shanghai will enter into the third phase from June 1 as it fully resumes normal production and life. Previously, Fengxian, Jinshan and Chongming districts have undergone stress test for restoring normal production and life. In the next step, the city will fully implement the regular disease prevention and control and restart normal work and life while staying vigilant against resurgence of COVID-19 and ensuring the risks are under control. The followings are the key measures that the residents might be interested in.
In terms of disease containment in the communities, the regular classified and zone-specific measures will be implemented. Medium and high-risk areas will be designated where new positive cases are reported according to national standards on risk rating. Corresponding disease management and control measures will also be put in place strictly. In the lockdown zones, people should stay indoors and wait for door-to-door services while the areas are closed. A lockdown zone will be revised down to a control one if there is no new positive infection found for seven days in a row. In the control zones, people should stay in the residential compounds while gathering is prohibited. A control zone will be further revised down to the precaution one if there is no new positive infection found for three days consecutively. Access to residential compounds will then be resumed. Apart from those residential compounds in the medium or high-risk areas, lockdown and control zones, no district, sub-district/town, neighborhood/village committee, property owner committee or property manager may restrict the residents/villagers to access their residential compounds on any grounds.
In terms of monitoring and early warning, a sound, convenient and sensitive tracking mechanism will be developed basecd on inspection posts, electronic posts, spot check posts, monitoring posts and epidemiological investigation posts to find high-risk groups promptly through PCR + antigen testing, venue code + digital sentries, fever clinics and in-pharmacy monitoring. People entering and leaving public places with clear disease prevention requirements and those taking public transport are required to present their negative result of PCR tests taken within 72 hours. The zero-fever case reporting is carried out in schools and companies to enhance health monitoring of people, identify those with abnormal symptoms and send them for medical care and screening in time.
In terms of traffic organization, the ground public transport and rail transit traffic network within the city will restore the basic operation from June 1. The ferries (including passenger transport to three islands of Chongming District) will also resume in an orderly manner. The electronic pass for vehicles is terminated with taxi-hailing and phone app car-booking services resumed as usual. Private cars and official cars are allowed to run on the roads as usual in the areas other than medium and high-risk areas, lockdown and control zones. Those driving motor vehicles to access the checkpoints in the city should still follow such measures as the verification of negative report of PCR tests. As for outbound traffic, the normal rail operation and passengers’ entrance to and exit from railway stations will be recovered basically from June 1. Schedules to remove existing disease containment measures at the land crossings for entering or leaving Shanghai will also be determined in the follow-up stage. Inter-provincial road passenger transport will be restored via consultations based on the principle of one plan for one route. Inter-provincial water passenger transport will restart based on actual situation. Following that, domestic flights to Shanghai will be resumed gradually, and the seat capacity on flights to Shanghai will also be adjusted.
In terms of business activities and market resumption. Business outlets including shopping malls, supermarkets, convenience stores, and pharmacies will resume offline operation in an orderly manner. As of June 1, these outlets will be allowed to receive no more than 75% of their maximum visitor capacity, and be encouraged to provide online reservation if possible. Wet markets will orderly reopen. Bath centers and beauty salons will reopen with reservation and receive a limited number of customers. Mail and delivery enterprises will orderly and gradually resume operation of their processing centers and outlets, and will make phased efforts to comprehensively restore delivery service for individuals. Domestic service and appliances maintenance service will be gradually made available. Various types of cultural and sports venues and tourist attractions will resume operation in an orderly manner. Starting from June 1, Class A tourist attractions will gradually and orderly reopen. These attractions will resort to such measures as “staggered visits, reservation and limitation of the number of visitors”. The total visits to these attractions will not exceed 75% of their maximum capacity. Cinemas, theaters, cultural venues, museums, health clubs and other confined venues will postpone reopening and follow subsequent adjustment of regulations. Parks will reopen in a staggered and orderly manner to receive a limited number of visitors.
In terms of work, production and schooling resumption. From June 1 onward, enterprises, industrial parks, office buildings will comprehensively resume work and production under the premises of ensuring anti-disease management. Commuting between enterprises and residential compounds will resume in COVID-free areas, while those enterprises in risk areas will continue the home offices or point-to-point commuting in accordance with relevant regulations. Schools will reopen in a phased manner. Priority will be given to the class resumption for senior grade 2/grade 3 and junior grade 3 students. Other grades in both elementary and middle schools will continue to take online classes at home till the semester ends. Kindergartens, nursery schools and child care centers will not arrange for the return of children.
In terms of public service. Starting from June 1, with strict implementation of various virus containment measures, administration service windows will orderly reopen, and the personnel of the Party and government organs and public institutions will go back to work except those living in medium- and high-risk areas, lockdown zones and control zones.
Currently, the city is still at a critical point in fighting against COVID-19, and anti-disease efforts still need the understanding, support and cooperation from fellow residents. It is expected that everyone will continue personal protection and keep in mind the Three Key Points (i.e., wearing face masks, maintaining social distancing, and ensuring personal hygiene) and the Five Stills (it is still needed to wear face masks, keep social distancing, cover face when coughing or sneezing, wash hands frequently, and open windows for ventilation as much as possible) to wear face masks appropriately, keep social distance, avoid gathering and enhance self-health monitoring. On the other hand, people should take initiative to receive vaccination and voluntarily obey various anti-disease regulations such as taking PCR testes, scanning venue code and health code and having body temperature checked.
Our fellow citizens, let us join hands and make concerted efforts to continue with anti-disease endeavors, orderly resume normal order of production and life, and protect our home -- Shanghai! Thank you very much！
