Residents return home to village after disinfection

Residents from the village of Lianqin in Shanghai, who had been relocated to centralized quarantine sites about a week ago due to rising local COVID-19 cases, returned home on Tuesday.

The village, located in the Beicai township of Pudong New Area, experienced a recent spike in cases and so became the focus of targeted prevention and control measures.

Some 2,300 people from Lianqin were transported to centralized quarantine sites on April 16 so that the entire village could be disinfected.

After the residents left, a team of about 100 disinfection workers from Wuhan, Hubei province, spent five days thoroughly disinfecting the village, including outdoor and indoor areas as well as public restrooms.

The villagers began returning to their homes on Sunday. Upon their return, each resident was required to register their details and told to continue self health monitoring and closed-loop management for several days.

Nie Shuyin, one of the residents returning home on Monday, said his landlord told him on April 16 that those from the village with negative nucleic acid test results would be transported to quarantine sites, while the confirmed cases would be sent to makeshift hospitals or receive medical treatment in a cordoned-off area of the village.

Although the message was sudden, Nie still managed to have time to pack necessities and valuables before being transported to the quarantine hotel with his family that evening.

Upon his family's return home on Monday, they were met with a pack of vegetables provided by the village committee.

"To be back is a great relief," said Nie. "I hope that we will have enough supplies and access to medical care over the next few days, especially for the children and the elderly."

According to Shen Zaiyuan, head of the Lianqin village committee, all residents transferred to the quarantine sites were required to be back home by Tuesday, and they will be provided with adequate living supplies under the closed-loop management.

Lianqin is located in Shanghai's urban-rural area where many residents are migrant workers engaged in farming and logistics, he said, adding that the speed of the spread of the Omicron variant had taken him by surprise.

The village chief said it was possible that people in the village could have been infected before the areas east of the Huangpu River had been locked down.

"Relocating the villagers and the thorough disinfection of the village have proved effective so far in curbing the spread of the virus, and will help guarantee the village's safety, even though it's a big task," he said. "It is a big responsibility."

According to Pudong's epidemic control team, Beicai township and several villages like Lianqin have seen a sharp drop in infections over the past week, but it said that the fight against the epidemic in the area is still ongoing.

The team said it was targeting the elderly and those with disabilities, especially people living alone, in locked-down areas in order to ensure they get the supplies and medical care they need.

It added that it is considering providing portable toilets in villages where residents share communal facilities to help reduce factors related to the spread of the virus.

Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday that many young people had joined a volunteer team to help Beicai township government deliver medicine and supplies to residents as well as organize further nucleic acid testing.