According to the latest test results, Shanghai currently has 44,173 communities housing 12.38 million people that have been categorized as precautionary zones. This population is 4.53 million more than the figure released in April 20.

Meanwhile, there are currently 6.6 million lesser people in locked down zones, said Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the Shanghai municipal health commission, during the daily press briefing on Friday.

The city implemented its three-zone epidemic control system on April 11, which categorizes communities as lockdown, controlled, or precautionary zones.

Shanghai reported 5,487 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and 9,545 asymptomatic infections on Thursday, the municipal health commission said Friday. According to the commission, 5,062 of the newly confirmed cases were previously asymptomatic.

A total of 52 COVID-19-related deaths were reported in the city on Thursday. The oldest case was aged 99 while the youngest was 58. All fatalities suffered from underlying health conditions.

On Thursday, 17,474 people were discharged from designated hospitals and quarantine sites after recovering.

Shanghai authorities recently set up 534 nucleic acid test sites for routine testing. To relieve the financial burden of residents and enterprises, the city announced that the services provided at these sites will be free from May 1 to the end of June.