Shanghai reported two new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Friday, reports Shine. Both cases are workers at Pudong International Airport, servicing planes in the foreign cargo aircraft operating area.
So far, there is nothing to indicate the infections are connected to the current COVID-19 outbreak in other Chinese cities, and neither case had left Shanghai in the two weeks prior to the positive confirmation.
Both patients had received full COVID-19 vaccination, along with all staff members at the city’s two airports, and are reported to have mild symptoms. They have been sent to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center for treatment.
The first patient, a 44-year-old Ethiopian man, is a resident of Jielonghuayuan complex in Pudong's Chuansha Town, which has now been designated a medium-risk area.
The second patient, a 55-year-old Chinese man, lives in a Jinjiang Inn in Donghai Town in Pudong, which has also now been designated a medium-risk area.
Forty-seven close contacts of the two cases had been identified as of Friday evening. All have been quarantined, with first nucleic acid test results negative.
A further 271 close contacts of the two cases' 47 close contacts have also been quarantined, with all first nucleic acid test results negative.
A total of 40,097 people, including other staffers at Pudong airport, had been tested as of Friday evening, and some 327 environmental samples collected at related sites. At the time of publication, all results so far in had returned negative.
Shanghai has now confirmed three new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in as many days, after a 25-year-old female medical worker at Shanghai Songjiang Central Hospital was reported positive on Wednesday.
The city's disease control and prevention center has concluded that she was infected by the hyper-contagious Delta variant from an overseas source, and her case is not linked to the current national outbreak.
She hadn't left Shanghai within 14 days before she was confirmed with infection, had no contact history with people from high- or medium-risk regions from other cities, and had no contact with the cold chain before she became ill.
After genetic sequencing tests, the virus was found to be highly similar to a recent imported case. That imported case had been sent to the fever clinic at Songjiang District Central Hospital, where the local case is a medical worker, with the two cases sharing the same transmission chain.
READ MORE: New Shanghai Local Case Caught Delta Strain from Overseas Source
There are now three medium-risk areas in the city, the two new ones in Pudong, and one in Songjiang District – the Youlu Apartments where the 25-year-old female medical worker case is a resident.
Shanghai culture and tourism authorities have once again suspended interprovincial group tours and airline and accommodation packages, following the cases. The suspension will only be lifted once there are no medium-risk regions in Shanghai.
All 31 provincial-level regions in the Chinese mainland have urged citizens not to leave the provinces where they live unless it is necessary, and to avoid medium- and high-risk areas for COVID-19, with enhanced prevention and control measures, including quarantine, for those that have.
READ MORE: Updated Quarantine Rules for Arrivals to Shanghai
China has identified 29 high-risk and 74 medium-risk areas at the time of publication. Scan the QR to find out where they are, and see the latest numbers:
[Cover image via NIAID-RML]
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