Visitors catch lucky break

Attendance dropped from more than 420,000 on June 19 to about 350,000 on June 20 as people expected heavy rain.

But only a light drizzle fell in short spurts yesterday while the temperature dropped below 30 degrees Celsius, delighting many Expo visitors.

"It's not raining, and we're lucky," said one visitor. She said the best part was that it wasn't super crowded yesterday.

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 Although there were fewer people yesterday, the Saudi Arabia, Germany and Japan pavilions were still star attractions and drew large crowds.

Liu Xiaoyan from Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, came prepared for almost everything. She brought a portable electric fan, mosquito repellent, a foldable chair and an umbrella.

"It was really hot yesterday, but today is cooler," she said. "I've applied enough sunscreen cream and I keep drinking water to stay hydrated."

The cooler weather also meant fewer patients at the medical station in Zone A.

"It was full yesterday but today we have fewer patients," a doctor surnamed Jin said.

The Shanghai Health Bureau said yesterday that it has set up two more medical stations, bringing the total to seven, inside the Expo zone. It also added five more ambulances for a total of 15. The ambulances have taken 914 people to hospitals since the Expo opened.

One of the new medical stations is near the entrance of Madang Road Gate in Puxi, the other is near Houtan Gate in Pudong.

The Expo site features water sprays under the elevated walkway and sun shelters to give people a break from the heat. Plus more drinking-water sites and electric fans have been added to ensure people stay reasonably cool. The fans are mostly at entrance gates, as it can take 2-3 hours to enter the grounds in the morning.

As of Saturday, the five medical stations had received 23,034 patients since opening, 4,575 of whom suffered trauma. Most people had minor injuries such as sprains or bruises.

The medical stations received about 130 sunstroke patients on Saturday, when the temperature soared to 36 degrees Celsius, the hottest day since the event started. All patients recovered quickly after treatment.

Jin advised that infants, old people with chronic diseases and those recovering from surgery avoid the Expo on busy days.