A staffer makes bed for an elderly at a nursing home in Zhangtai Township of Weixian County in Xingtai City, Nnorth China's Hebei Province, June 12, 2019. (Photo: Xinhua)

Nursing homes in Wuhan are gradually resuming services in an orderly manner, with elderly people allowed to make appointments at local nursing homes in accordance with the regulations, Wuhan's civil affairs authority said on Tuesday.  

"In addition to the nucleic acid testing, serum antibody testing and CT examinations before checking in, the nursing homes provide temperature monitoring twice a day," a Wuhan resident surnamed Han, who sent his parents to a nursing home, told chinanews.com. 

After taking three tests or submitting three test results within a week, elderly people are required to undergo a seven-day isolation at a specific area in the nursing home, and will return to normal living quarters if no abnormal signs are found, reports said.

The strict requirements for testing and examinations are being widely applied in nursing homes around the city. Many nursing homes have set up reception areas for family members after making appointments, however, people with no connections to family members will not be allowed entry, media reported.

Wuhan lowered its emergency response level from level one to level two on May 2. An official from Wuhan's civil affairs department told media that after the adjustment, elderly care institutions that have no COVID-19 cases and have been evaluated as being ready to take the elderly back can resume their services after being given the green light by their district government. Managers can also submit an application for resumption if their elderly care institutions find no COVID-19 cases or suspected cases 14 days after the adjustment.    

Rao Zhen, the head of a nursing home in Wuhan's Jiang'an district, told chinanews.com that booking numbers have been increasing in May, and that they are expected to welcome the first group of elderly people this week.

Yang Zhanqiu, a deputy director of the pathogen biology department at Wuhan University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the resumption of services for nursing homes is an important and necessary move for Wuhan to normalize prevention and control measures.  

Considering Wuhan's steady situation, the city should take the initiative to speed up resumption while carrying out full inspections of key groups of people such as silent carriers, said Yang. 

Wuhan managed to test 9 million people from May 15 to 24, among whom 218 asymptomatic carriers were reported, said the local health authority Tuesday. 

Yang noted that the testing has lowered the risk of infection from asymptomatic cases, put people at ease and accelerated the city's resumption of services.