(Yicai Global) March 30 -- China's most populous city Shanghai has transformed several venues, such as exhibition centers and stadiums, into quarantine facilities for Covid-19 patients amid new outbreaks.

Patients with mild or no symptoms are treated in facilities, including Shanghai New International Expo Center and Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center, said Zheng Junhua, secretary of Renji Hospital's party committee. The centers welcome people aged between seven and 70 who have no chronic diseases. They are treated with traditional Chinese medicine or domestic patent drugs. Shanghai recorded 326 locally transmitted Covid-19 cases and 5,656 asymptomatic ones yesterday, according to data disclosed by the municipal health commission. The eastern city is conducting two rounds of mass Covid-19 testing with lockdowns implemented in different areas till April 5.

The workers who have been assigned to the facilities are quite experienced in diagnosing and treating Covid-19 patients as many of them were working in Wuhan two years ago, Wu Zhengyi, deputy head of Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s School of Medicine, said in an interview with Shanghai Television on March 28.

Almost 650 employees at Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital have been moved to the SNIEC yesterday. The exhibition center in Pudong is planned to have about 12,000 beds.

Another large event space, SWEECC, was repurposed on March 26 to accommodate patients. The site will have as many as 7,500 beds. More than 600 employees, including experts from hospitals' emergency, as well as respiratory and infectious disease departments, will work at the new medical facility.

Moreover, two indoor stadiums in Shanghai’s Minhang and Jiading districts have also been turned into centralized isolation spots.

The new quarantine facilities are designed strictly in accordance with hospitals’ requirements regarding the prevention and control of Covid-19 outbreaks, said Chen Erzhen, vice president of Ruijin Hospital who is in charge of medical treatment at one of them.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi