new Delhi: China, battling the worst Covid-19 outbreak since the start of the pandemic, has sent thousands of healthcare and military professionals to Shanghai for mass testing of all its 26 million residents, news agency Reuters reported.
This is the biggest public health response by China since the virus was detected in Wuhan in 2019.
According to an armed forces newspaper, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Sunday sent about 2,000 medical professionals from the Army, Navy and Joint Logistic Support Forces.
State media reports have suggested that more than 10,000 health workers have arrived in Shanghai from provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Beijing.
It is the largest public health response to date under a ‘dynamic evacuation’ policy of tracing, testing and quarantining since the outbreak in Wuhan, according to Reuters. At the end of 2019, the PLA sent more than 4,000 health professionals to Wuhan.
The people of Shanghai had to get up early in the morning for the nucleic acid test to get the test done. Some even appeared in their pajamas. Shanghai reported 8,581 asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and 425 symptomatic COVID-19 cases on Sunday.
While testing and quarantining are for public safety to contain the spread of the virus, local residents are skeptical of the Centre’s policies.
While Shanghai was previously partially closed, with half of the city allowed to stay inside and the other half to go out, which would be reversed in a few days, it has now been extended into a complete lockdown Is.
Meanwhile, residents also complained of being in unhygienic conditions at the central quarantine centres. Health workers are also tired and doubt policymaking.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan, sent to Shanghai by the central government, urged the city to take “firm and swift steps” to curb the epidemic.