Shanghai Pudong Airport starts testing all staff after COVID-19 cases discovered

Shanghai Pudong Airport started on Sunday night testing all staff after the airport found several cargo handlers and close contacts tested positive for the coronavirus over the past several days. 

Meanwhile, flights into Shanghai were largely cancelled on Sunday night. As of 11pm, 277 flights had been cancelled, according to figures compiled by airline data tracker VariFlight app. A video posted online shows the road to the airport was severely congested.

Shanghai reported two domestic COVID-19 cases on Sunday, including another cargo handler at the airport, bringing the total number of confirmed cases since Friday to five.

A staff member at the airport told the Global Times that workers had received a notice requesting all staff be tested for the coronavirus on Sunday, which began around 3pm. Most of the staff were gathering on Sunday night to be tested. Photos showing the nucleic acid testing was underway at the test area on Sunday night, were posted by the Shanghai police on its Weibo account. 

Numerous videos posted online show the underground parking lot at Pudong Airport filled with long queues of people waiting to be tested.

Shanghai had previously reported a cargo handler tested positive for the coronavirus on November 9.  

Anhui Province reported on November 10 that a cargo handler had also tested positive for the virus. 

In total there have been at least seven confirmed domestic COVID-19 cases among workers at the Pudong Airport. The risk of virus being imported through international logistics is of great concern to health authorities.

A notice circulating online shows that all staff in the two main cargo zones of the airport are required to complete nucleic acid tests at the P4 parking lot of Pudong Airport by midnight Sunday.

The airport authority didn't respond to a Global Times's request for more information as of press time.

As winter approaches, sporadic outbreaks of COVID-19 have occurred in many parts of the country heightening public concern. Zhang Wenhong, a prominent Shanghai-based infectious disease expert, on Sunday said the current epidemic is under control, with no continuous second-generation cases appearing in communities. Epidemic prevention and control in all parts of the country has been very effective, he noted.