Buses, subways, ferries, taxis, and online car-hailing services will be suspended in locked down regions. Vehicles related to epidemic control measures, emergency medical services, security, urban operation and emergency response will be able to use roads after obtaining official approval, but the unnecessary use of other vehicles will be prohibited.

The city government said those who do not participate in the nucleic acid screening will lose their green health QR codes and have difficulty accessing public venues later.

It also reiterated the necessity of ensuring sufficient supplies of daily necessities and food and emphasized the importance of green channels to meet the emergency medical needs of the public, especially pregnant women, patients undergoing hemodialysis, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and others requiring special treatment.

Those who refuse to cooperate, hinder epidemic prevention and control, or cause other serious consequences will be investigated and held legally liable.

On Friday, the first central quarantine site renovated from an exhibition hall to receive mild confirmed cases and asymptomatic infections in the city was put into use and received more than 500 patients. The venue can accommodate 2,000 patients.

Four hospitals jointly dispatched an 840-member medical force to the site, including some people who aided Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, during its epidemic peak in 2020.

Among them was Zha Qiongfang, a doctor with the respiratory medicine department at Renji Hospital who was a member of the first Shanghai medical contingent to arrive in Wuhan.

"Two years ago, we traveled to help friends. Now, we feel the duty to safeguard our hometown when Shanghai's epidemic control is at its most critical juncture," she said.

Renji Hospital said that psychologists were also deployed to help patients regulate their emotions and reduce anxiety when quarantined in a relatively closed space.

Seven other such sites, including hospitals and indoor stadiums, have also been made ready after renovations, according to the city's health authority.

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