Two new local cases confirmed in Shanghai

Two new local COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Shanghai, the city government said on Wednesday.

Both were close contacts of the cases confirmed last week, and tested positive for the virus during hotel quarantine.

One was an employee working with foreign cargo flights at Shanghai Pudong International Airport and a resident in Pudong district. The other was a close contact of the case confirmed on Aug 18, who worked in a medical institution in Songjiang district. The new case lived in the same district.

The city government added it had tracked down 61 close contacts of the two new infections. All have been put under hotel quarantine.

Shanghai currently has eight local COVID-19 cases.

Ni Minjing, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, also mentioned at the press briefing that 190,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been used to inoculate teenagers aged between 15 and 17 in the city.

A total of 171 vaccination sites across the city's 16 districts are currently providing vaccinations to this group of teenagers.The city will soon include minors aged between 12 and 14 in its vaccination drive, Ni added.

As the pandemic situation in the city is generally stable and under control, the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission announced that primary and middle schools as well as kindergartens will start the new semester as scheduled on Sept 1. 

The authorities have also instructed universities, colleges and vocational schools to make the necessary arrangements to allow their students to return to campus for the new semester in batches so as to prevent a travel rush.