Shanghai asks entire city to test for COVID-19 as residents become ‘restless’

On Sunday, Shanghai requested that its 26 million residents take two more rounds of tests for Covid-19 as public frustration mounts over how authorities are tackling spikes in caes.

Residents have been instructed to self-test on Sunday using antigen kits and report any positive results, Shanghai government officials told a news conference, while a nucleic acid test would be conducted citywide on Monday.

“The main task is to completely eliminate risk points and to cut off the chain of transmission so that we can curb the spread of the epidemic as soon as possible,” said Wu Qianyu, an inspector from Shanghai Municipal Health Commission.

Shanghai’s lockdown has disrupted daily life and businesses, even as healthcare workers and volunteers work round the clock trying to test the entire population and supply residents with groceries.

Covid cases in China remain low going by international standards, however spikes in places such as Shanghai are being combatted using strict curbs and aggressive testing and tracing.

Most of Shanghai’s infections have been asymptomatic, according to official data, but China’s “dynamic clearance” approach requires authorities to test, trace and centrally quarantine all positive cases.

Shanghai on Sunday reported 7,788 daily locally transmitted asymptomatic cases, up from 6,501 the day before, while symptomatic cases increased to 438 from 260.

Shanghai accounted for the majority of mainland China’s 11,781 daily locally transmitted asymptomatic cases and nearly one-third of its 1,506 symptomatic cases. This was the highest national case count since the early days of the pandemic in February 2020.