There has been a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in the city, but officials have ruled out a full lockdown over the damage it would do to the economy.
Millions of Chinese in affected areas have been subjected to city-wide lockdowns by an Omicron-led outbreak that has sent daily case counts creeping ever-higher, though they remain insignificant compared with other countries.
The city of 25 million people has tried to ease disruption with a more targeted approach marked by rolling 48-hour lock-ups of individual neighbourhoods and large-scale testing.
At a press conference on Saturday, officials mentioned the importance of avoiding a full lock down of the port city.
There would be many international cargo ships floating in the East China Sea if the city of Shanghai stopped.
This would have a huge impact on the global economy.
The city officials announced that they would begin giving out self-testing kits to residents, in the latest sign that the government was expanding its response to the flu.
Jilin said it had begun distributing 500,000 rapid-antigen kits.
The areas hardest hit by the outbreak were Jilin and Shanghai.
China kept the coronaviruses under control through strict zero-tolerance measures.
Concerns over the economic impact and public fatigue are some of the reasons why the top-down approach is being questioned.
The National Health Commission announced two weeks ago that it would introduce the sale of rapid antigen self-test kits in China for the first time, and they have begun to appear on pharmacy shelves.
Saturday's announcements appeared to be the first wide-scale use of the announcements as part of official control measures.
Most of the new domestic transmissions that China reported on Saturday were not life threatening.
Chinese authorities had watched nervously as a deadly Hong Kong Omicron surge sparked panic buying and claimed a high toll of unvaccinated elderly in the southern Chinese city.
Its spread in mainland China has posed a dilemma for authorities.
On Wednesday, a top doctor in the city called for balancing security measures with normal life.
The comments in his widely followed blog indicated growing official tolerance for voices who question the lockdown approach.
A run on groceries in some districts has been provoked by the local lockdowns that have failed to stop cases from rising.
About 40% of the national total was reported by Shanghai, with a steep rise in new local transmissions.
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