Shanghai stands resolute on COVID-19 strategy

        With a large population of unvaccinated seniors and an already-stretched healthcare workforce, Shanghai cannot afford to relax its COVID-19 measures as it battles a severe wave of the Omicron variant, according to experts.

      There could be severe consequences if the city deviated from the "dynamic zero-COVID strategy", including surging numbers of severe cases and deaths among the elderly, with hospitals overburdened, the experts said.

       Given Shanghai's pivotal role in regional development, such negative effects would inevitably extend beyond the city and affect neighboring provinces and even farther afield, they added.

Since late February, Shanghai has reported more than 500,000 COVID-19 infections, with the number of daily cases topping 15,000 for weeks. With an approach aimed at stemming the spread of the virus in the shortest possible time, some areas are entering their fifth week of lockdown.

       The apparent uninhibited spread of the Omicron variant, coupled with frustration over fragmented access to food and a lack of quarantine facilities, could lead Shanghai, the nation's financial powerhouse and most developed city, to start easing stringent control of the virus.

       Zhang Wenhong, head of the infectious disease department at Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University in Shanghai, said during a forum on Thursday: "The Omicron strain is indeed a formidable enemy … What we continue to be most worried about, and what we cannot let go, are the elderly and vulnerable populations, who are not rid of the grim risk posed by the virus."

       Experts said expanding the use of rapid antigen tests, enhancing logistical support for people in quarantine, and monitoring quarantined patients with special medical needs are key lessons learned from the outbreak in Shanghai that will ensure the dynamic clearance strategy is carried out effectively.