Every traveler coming or returning to Shanghai must take a nucleic acid test upon arrival, otherwise a pop-up notification will cover their health code app, the city's COVID-19 prevention authority said on Monday.
The "landing test," or "arrival test," stipulated by the State Council, or China's cabinet, is applicable to all arrivals to Shanghai through November 15 to curb the spread of the coronavirus during the holiday season.
They can receive the free PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test voluntarily upon arrival and will be allowed to move freely immediately after the test, the city's COVID-19 prevention and control leaders' office announced.
"All arrivals are required to receive a PCR test within 24 hours. Those who fail to do so in 48 hours will get a pop-up notification on their health code," the office said in a statement.
Such a pop-up window will prevent travelers from displaying their suishenma health code, banning them from accessing most of Shanghai's public services, transport and places. It will disappear right after the traveler gets a PCR test record.
Additional PCR sample collection sites have therefore been set up at local airports, railway stations, interprovincial highway service sections, toll stations and other entries to the city.
Checkpoints with venue codes and digital sentries, or the integrated code scanning and temperature check machines, will be set up alongside the PCR sites.
Travelers with a red health code or those who had been to high-risk, locked-down or key domestic regions (counties that have any high-risk area) will be put under quarantine immediately.
People with a yellow code, along with those without a negative PCR report within 48 hours, will be taken to the nearest PCR sample collection site to undergo a test immediately.
The new measure will be adjusted according to the pandemic situation, the office noted.