Following a public uproar, Shanghai is allowing at least some parents to stay with children infected with Covid-19, making an exception to a policy of isolating anyone who tests positive.

The announcement came as China’s largest city remained in lockdown and conducted more mass testing on Wednesday following another jump in new cases.

A top city health official said at a press conference that parents can apply to stay with children with “special needs” and accompany them if they fully comprehend the health risks and sign an agreement.

The parents must wear masks, dine at a different time than their children, avoid sharing items with them and strictly follow all regulations, said Wu Qianyu of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission. She did not define what qualifies as “special needs”.

Her announcement followed Chinese state media reports a day earlier that an isolation site set up at the Shanghai New International Expo Center was accepting children with parents. The city has opened sprawling isolation centres for tens of thousands of people to isolate the growing number of positive cases.

Reports that parents were being separated from their infected children had sparked a wave of protest online last weekend, fuelled by photos showing several children in each cot with no parents in sight.

Shanghai reported 17,077 new cases detected over the previous day, all but 311 of them in people who showed no symptoms. Under China’s zero-Covid approach, the city requires all those who test positive to be held in designated locations for observation, along with their close contacts.