Spatiotemporal characteristics and prevention and control measures of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron pandemic in Shanghai

Abstract

ObjectiveTo analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics and prevention and control measures of the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in Shanghai in 2022， aiming to optimize future prevention and control strategies.MethodsDescriptive statistical method was used to analyze data on daily infections released by the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission from March 1 to June 30， 2022.ResultsAs of 30 June， a total of 627 110 infections and 588 deaths had been reported in Shanghai. Most of the cases were in Pudong New Area （35.47%）， Minhang District （10.18%） and Huangpu District （9.27%）. The cumulative infection rate was 8.78% in Huangpu District， which was the highest among all the districts. With the progress of the pandemic， the prevention and control measures were strengthened from a “precise prevention and control” strategy to “block and grid” screening， and then upgraded to city-wide lockdown. All daily new infections were identified from the quarantined population on April 29， 2022， reaching the goal of “clearance of community transmission”.ConclusionThe cumulative infections in Shanghai exceeded any previous epidemics in mainland China. Given the enhanced transmissibility and vaccine-induced immune escape of the Omicron variant， timely and strong public health measures are needed to suppress the pandemic under the general policy of "Dynamic zero-COVID".

Keywords

• sars-cov-2
• omicron variant
• spatiotemporal distribution
• prevention and control measure