Over 14 million in Shanghai undergo antigen testing

More than 14 million residents of Shanghai took part in COVID-19 antigen testing on Saturday, and this new effort in the city's screening strategy to curb the current local outbreak will continue Sunday, the municipal government said.

The residents who tested positive immediately underwent nucleic acid tests and epidemic control measures were taken on those who finally tested positive, Wu Quanyu, a primary inspector with the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, said at a municipal media briefing.

"Such results show that antigen testing is advantageous in testing speed and operation process. Residents in the remaining low-risk grids in the city will continue taking antigen testing by themselves at home on Sunday," she said.

Shanghai initiated another round of gird-screening plan on Saturday. As residents in low-risk grids underwent antigen tests, those in key areas would take nucleic acid tests.

Shanghai recorded 2,676 new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections on Saturday, including 45 confirmed cases.

Wu said the epidemic prevention and control situation in Shanghai is severe and complicated at present, and the number of new infections has been on high level for consecutive days.

"We'll continue adhering to the general policy of 'dynamic zero-COVID' and optimizing epidemic control measures to achieve the goal of zero new infection out of the virus' transmission chains as soon as possible," said Wu.

Number of child infection aged 6 or younger in the city totaled at 305 as of Saturday, accounting for less than 3 percent of the total infection. Among the child infections, 53 were confirmed cases, according to the city's health authority.

All the minors were treated at the designated hospital to treat COVID-19 patients but stayed in wards with decorations and toys.