Shanghai airport mass testing staff after COVID-19 cases reported

SHANGHAI: Staff at Shanghai's biggest international airport are facing mass testing after a small outbreak of COVID-19 in the city was linked to several cargo handlers, with plans underway to vaccinate high-risk workers. 

Life in China - where the virus first emerged late last year - has largely returned to normal following strict testing and harsh lockdowns, but there has been a series of sporadic local outbreaks over recent months.

READ: China starts mass testing 3 million in Tianjin for COVID-19

Shanghai has reported six local infections linked to the airport this month, with most of the cases in the past few days.

Overnight Sunday into Monday (Nov 23), workers in full protective gear ushered Pudong International Airport staff into a multi-storey car park to have the virus test, with videos posted online by Shanghai health authorities showing scores of people filing into the facility.

The news comes as aviation data provider Variflight flagged the cancellation of more than 40 per cent of Monday's flights at the airport, one of the world's busiest and a key gateway for international flights during the pandemic.

More than 17,700 people had been swabbed by Monday morning in the drive to test airport cargo staff, the official Xinhua news agency reported, and results had come back negative on more than 11,500 so far.

Frontline cargo workers will be given regular tests in the future and those in high-risk jobs will also be given vaccines for COVID-19, Xinhua added, citing Shanghai Airport Authority vice-president Zhou Junlong, who said the process would be voluntary.

"The confirmed cases have only been found at the airport's cargo handling area, and the airport's passenger area is unaffected," Zhou said.

READ: Organised 'overkill': China shows off rapid lockdown system after latest COVID-19 outbreak

China has been giving experimental COVID-19 vaccines to people including state employees, international students and essential workers heading abroad since July.

CHINA LINKS 2 CASES TO CONTAINER FROM ABROAD

On Monday, authorities said two cargo handlers at the airport who tested positive earlier this month had entered and cleaned a container arriving from North America - without wearing masks - in late October.

An airport cargo handler figured in a case reported on Nov 9, and a colleague in another case reported on Nov 10, after both together entered and cleaned the container on Oct 30, said Sun Xiaodong, an official of Shanghai's disease control centre.

Neither was wearing a mask at the time.

"Research at home and abroad has shown coronavirus could live in enclosed, damp environments," Sun told a news conference.

The container was damp inside and sealed off, Sun said, adding that the virus strain detected in both cases was highly similar to that from North America, suggesting that the source could be from abroad.

READ: China's irritated trade partners push back on COVID-19 food tests

From epidemiological investigations and gene sequencing, Sun said, experts had concluded the source of infection in both cases can be traced to the container both were exposed to, but he did not say if samples had been taken from it.

Authorities said they have not found a link between the first two cases and the most recent ones.

One of the recent cases involves a security inspector at a UPS logistics hub at the airport while two are UPS employees. UPS was not immediately available for comment outside US office hours.

China has been rolling out mass-testing campaigns upon the emergence of local cases, and authorities have recently shifted their focus to imported frozen food and other imports, which are blamed for a resurgence of local infections.

A cluster of domestic cases has also been reported in the northern port city of Tianjin, where state media said 2.6 million people are being tested.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram