Coronavirus: China to test entire city in ‘five days’

China aims to test more than nine million residents of the port city of Qingdao within five days following a minor coronavirus outbreak, health officials said.

China aims to test more than nine million residents of the port city of Qingdao within five days following a minor coronavirus outbreak, health officials said on Monday, the first mass testing in months.

The country where the virus first emerged has largely controlled its outbreak, cutting a stark contrast to many other parts of the world.

On Sunday, six cases were confirmed in Qingdao — a northeastern city of 9.4 million — originating in a hospital, the Qingdao municipal health commission said on Monday.

Five districts will be tested “within three days” and the whole city “within five days”, it said. However, officials did not give a precise figure on how many people would be tested.

China has extensive, quick test capabilities and the health commission said more than 140,000 employees of “medical institutions, newly admitted patients and personnel” have already been tested in Qingdao since the cases were confirmed.

In June, large areas of Beijing were subject to mass tests after the city of more than 20 million detected virus cases linked to a food market.

China has bounced back since the virus emerged and forced widespread lockdowns that hammered the world’s second-largest economy.

AFP