Shanghai encourages testing for returning Wuhan workers

The Shanghai Municipal Health Commission has encouraged and supported local enterprises to subject employees returning from Wuhan, Hubei province to nucleic acid testing for the novel coronavirus following the lifting of the city's 76-day lockdown on Wednesday.

The health commission has published a list of the designated medical institutions across the city's 16 districts where people can undergo nucleic acid tests. Companies must first make an appointment for their employees.

Medical workers at a designated test venue, a makeshift tent clinic in Changning district, said that more than 30 people returning from Wuhan had taken the test by 3 pm on Friday.

The results of the test, which involves swabbing the back of a person's throat and nose, will be available within 24 hours.

The commission said that medical institutions will send the test results to the district-level health authorities and centers for disease control and prevention on a daily basis. A positive test result must be reported within an hour.