City commits top medical resources to curb growing COVID-19 death toll
Residents in a lockdown area receive daily PCR testing.
Shanghai is committing quality medical resources to help curb the growing rate of deaths and severe symptoms among COVID-19 infection cases, the city's health commission said.
Shanghai reported 11 new COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, bringing the total since the resurgence in March to 36, said Wu Qianyu, a senior commission official.
The average age of the fatalities was 84.2 years, all of whom had severe underlying health conditions, such as heart disease, liver cirrhosis, brain infarction, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and uremia. Only one of them had been vaccinated.
Their conditions worsened rapidly after being sent to hospital. Wu noted the direct causes of their deaths were their underlying diseases.
Among Shanghai's COVID-19 patients, 160 have severe symptoms and 24 are in critical condition.
"The number is growing of local coronavirus patients with severe symptoms and critical conditions," Wu said. She noted that positive COVID-19 cases with underlying diseases have a high risk of developing severe symptoms, especially seniors.
Quality medical resources and experts have been allocated to the treatment of patients with severe and critical conditions to reduce their rate of deaths, she said.
A staffer disinfects a classroom at a local school.
Multiple medical teams specializing in severe disease symptoms have been rushed to COVID-19 designated hospitals to focus not only on the coronavirus but also underlying diseases.
The city's COVID-19 expert teams will visit patients in serious or critical conditions every day and do online consultations to discuss their treatment plans. Some national coronavirus experts will also be invited to take part in the consultations.
The COVID-19 patients with serious underlying diseases will be transferred to designated hospitals that specialize in the diseases. Patients with the same category of underlying illness, such as kidney diseases, tumors or mental diseases, will be treated in the same section together.
The designated hospitals have also been asked to evaluate the condition of each COVID-19 patient when receiving them. Earlier intervention will be done in high risk groups to prevent people with mild symptoms from getting worse.
Patients with multiple underlying diseases will be given a customized treatment plan to reduce the death rate among people in critical condition, said Wu.
The number of Shanghai's new daily COVID-19 cases has declined for five consecutive days. It reported 1,931 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, including 143 cases that were previously asymptomatic infections, and 15,698 local asymptomatic infections on Thursday.
Positive cases are transferred to makeshift hospitals for central quarantine.
Among them, 250 cases tested positive during the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening, while the rest had already been placed under central quarantine as close contacts.
Meanwhile, a total of 27,988 COVID-19 patients were discharged from local designated and makeshift hospitals on Thursday after making full recoveries.
"The number of new infections, especially those people infected during community transmission, has gradually reduced, while the locked down areas have also shrunk," Wu said.
She said the city's latest general COVID-19 fight to more quickly achieve the goal of "dynamic zero-COVID" at a social level has been increasingly effective.
The pandemic has trended downwards in six local districts in the last three days, including Pudong, Minhang, Songjiang, Qingpu, Putuo and Changning.
The number of positive cases continues to fluctuate in four other districts – Xuhui, Hongkou, Baoshan and Jiading – while new cases are still growing in Jing'an, Huangpu and Yangpu districts, Wu said.
The pandemic has been maintained at a low level in the outskirts districts of Fengxian, Jinshan and Chongming.
Shanghai government has launched a series of new actions for community management, testing and screening, epidemiological investigation, transferring and quarantine, TCM intervention and disinfection, Wu said.
A senior citizen receives a COVID-19 vaccine.
