Jiang Rui, deputy director of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, said: "We must carry out the strictest management, although the overall situation in Shanghai has improved. Meanwhile, life for the elderly should be enriched in various ways, such as chatting with family members on the internet and by joining activities at the facilities."

There are more than 670 such facilities in Beijing and 730 in Shanghai－a city with one of the largest aging populations nationwide. As of December, 2018, there were 5.03 million permanent residents age 60 and older in the municipality, accounting for just over 34 percent of its total population. The corresponding national proportion was nearly 18 percent.

For managers of facilities for seniors, the priority is disinfection and preventing the spread of the virus from inside and outside such communities.

Wang Yuke, president of Fosun Integrated Care Group and of Starcastle elderly communities, said, "We initiated emergency measures to prevent the elderly contracting upper respiratory tract infections, and implemented corresponding disinfection and quarantine measures at our facilities on Jan 15, even before the lockdown was enforced in Wuhan." Li, the former government official, and his wife live in a Starcastle community.

Wang's communities have been graded with different colors－red, orange, yellow and green－to denote their levels of infection risk. The grades also relate to different sterilization and prevention measures.

For example, for residential areas marked green, caregivers only need to wear disposable masks and gloves, while quarantine rooms for seniors running a fever are marked red, meaning that workers must wear protective medical suits and N95 face masks, she said.

Wang Xiaohui, vice-president of Starcastle, said that on learning about the outbreak, the group worked quickly to distribute protective gear, handbooks on the disease and on personal hygiene measures for all seniors and caregivers.

Xie Gaoyang, 89, who lives at a Starcastle community in Shanghai with his wife, said caregivers explained in detail how residents should wash their hands thoroughly, along with the correct way to wear a face mask.

Lu Zhifang, a resident of the Langongguan Nursing Home in Shanghai's Xuhui district, said the facility raced against time to buy protective supplies for the elderly through various channels.

"We have received packages in different languages, including Japanese, Korean and English, that contain face masks," the 74-yearold woman said.