Visitors questioned

Xie said that recent visitors to Shanghai were asked when they had arrived in the city. They were also questioned about their recent travel history.

"Another problem was residents missing some of the questions, meaning that the entire process had to be repeated, which took longer," she said.

The grassroots workers had to input the information into a computer to complete the forms digitally before sending them to upper-tier staff members, Xie added.

She said a mini app was trialed in the second half of last year. Workers at city, district, sub-district and community levels could access the app, and the process of surveying residents was moved online.

"Grassroots workers visited people's homes to tell them to answer the questions on their phones. A survey could only be submitted when all the questions had been answered," she said.

Upper-tier workers could view the survey results simultaneously and a district chart of individuals' completed replies, along with their nucleic acid test results, was produced automatically.

Yu Linwei, vice-governor of Xuhui district, said he hoped that the platform would lead to the involvement of more developers from different fields.

"For example, we may even welcome university and middle school students who can devise a mini app to solve problems they detect in community management and people's daily lives," he said.