Wuhan to test 11m as virus rebounds
Officials in Wuhan, where the coronavirus outbreak began, have ordered a citywide nucleic acid test for Covid-19 over a
10-day period after a resurgence of infections at the weekend.
Health authorities ordered every district in the Chinese city of 11 million to submit a detailed testing plan by yesterday for their respective areas. The plans will require tests to be completed within 10 days.
China acted swiftly to control the resurgence, issuing an urgent directive the day after Wuhan reported six new Covid-19 infections over the weekend.
Wuhan has conducted about
47,000 nucleic acid tests each day since the lockdown was lifted, according to calculations by the news agency Reuters, based on city health authority reports.
New cases confirmed in China since April have been low compared with the thousands every day in February, thanks to nationwide screening, testing and quarantine.
Wang Zhongli, a Wuhan official, said: ‘‘We need to strengthen nucleic tests in the communities and widen the scope of testing.’’
China’s health authority said the reappearance of local clusters of cases suggested counterepidemic measures could not be relaxed yet. Mi Feng, spokesman for the National Health Commission, said that while prevention and control efforts had normalised, that did not mean measures could be eased.
People must still wear face masks and stay 1.5 metres away from each other, although there has been no mention of reinstating the draconian measures seen earlier this year.
The new cluster of the outbreak ended the city’s record of 35 days with no reported infections.
The flare-up was the city’s first resurgence of the virus since the government lifted the citywide lockdown on April 8.
The city went into quarantine on January 23, with residents banned from leaving the city and schools and businesses closing their doors. The total number of cases in China stands at 82,919 and the death toll is 4633.
– Telegraph Group