Shanghai discharges thousands of patients, boosts supplies

Shanghai has discharged over 11,000 recovered COVID-19 patients and health authorities emphasize that they must be allowed to return home despite the lockdown that has severely restricted movement in China’s largest city

BEIJING -- Shanghai on Sunday discharged over 11,000 recovered COVID-19 patients and health authorities emphasized that they must be allowed to return home despite the lockdown that has severely restricted movement in China's largest city.

“We hope their family and community will not worry about them or discriminate against them,” said Wu Jinglei, director of the Shanghai Health Commission.

The city of 26 million people reported 1,006 confirmed infections and nearly 24,000 asymptomatic cases in the last 24 hours. Shanghai has been under lockdown since March 28, and authorities said Saturday that the strict measures would be lifted in areas with no new cases in the last 14 days following another round of mass testing.

The United States on Saturday advised its citizens to reconsider traveling to China due to “arbitrary enforcement” of local laws and COVID-19 restrictions, particularly in Hong Kong, Jilin province and Shanghai. U.S. officials cited a risk of “parents and children being separated.”