The spread of COVID-19 cases in Shanghai has forced the city to lock down its Pudong District – home to over 6,000 financial institutions – for four days from Monday to conduct nucleic acid testing.

To ensure China's financial transactions operate steadily, many finance employees will be working from their offices. He Qing is one of them.

He, who came to the office right after the municipal government made the announcement, works at the Shanghai headquarters of the Development Bank of Singapore. His team is in charge of interbank transactions and derivative sales to retail consumers. 

"Our business needs to operate steadily. So I have to sleep at the office in case there are any trading uncertainties," He said. 

He is not the only one. The bank He works at has more than 1,000 staff members in Shanghai – six of them now stay in the office. In addition to financial transactions, the bank has also dispatched technicians to ensure the safety of the data center.

Xiao Hongjun has been sleeping at the office since March 16, when some residential communities in town were temporarily closed for COVID-19 screenings.

"We need to make sure the hardware can operate well. Financial transactions cannot stop. So we have to guarantee safety especially during the COVID-19 outbreak," Xiao said.

In addition to commercial banks that handle retail and institutional transactions, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) has also dispatched dozens of staff to stay in the office in case there are any trading errors emerging in the stock market.

The SSE has introduced 30 measures, including online IPO consulting and the loosening of document signature requirements.

Other financial institutions, such as the Shanghai Commodity Exchange, Shanghai Clearing House and Shanghai Gold Exchange, have also sent staff members to work on-duty during the closed-off period.

More than 20,000 staff are still working in Shanghai's Lujiazui Financial District to make certain China's financial market can smoothly get through this challenging time.

Shanghai's Pudong District will end its lockdown on April 1, but the city's Puxi area – the western side of the Huangpu River – will begin to close off on the same day.