Shanghai on Friday began free testing in areas deemed to have low risk of COVID-19 exposure so as to identify potential infections, according the municipal health authorities. The free testing will last till Sunday.

The closed-loop management system will not be imposed in these areas, Wu Jinglei, director of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission said at a briefing on Friday.

The city announced this broader measurement to control the spread of COVID-19 after 260 new locally transmitted infections - 203 of whom were asymptomatic - were reported on Thursday. Authorities also categorized No. 20, 612 Shunchang road, Dapuqiao sub-district, Huangpu district as a medium-risk area.

As of 9 am Friday, 17,875 close contacts and 49,140 secondary close contacts had been identified and put under quarantine. Presently, 63,981 nucleic acid test samples taken from these individuals have returned negative. The rest are still being processed.

"The number of infections on Thursday is relatively higher than those announced in the past few days, because most of the patients were identified through testing carried out in key neighborhoods across the city over the past two days," Wu said.

According to Wu, different nucleic acid screening and control measures will be adopted for streets and towns depending on their risk of exposure to COVID-19.