Covid-19 returns to Wuhan, entire population to be tested

Beijing — The first local Covid-19 cases in more than a year was reported in Wuhan on Tuesday (Aug 3). As a result, city authorities announced it would test its entire population.

Authorities in Wuhan are “swiftly launching comprehensive nucleic acid testing of all residents,” a population of about 11 million, said senior Wuhan official Li Tao in a press conference.

Wuhan reported seven locally transmitted Covid-19 infections among migrant workers on Monday (Aug 2).

The incident broke a year-long streak of zero local transmissions after the city curbed an outbreak through a lockdown in early 2020, reported AFP.

In response to the largest outbreak in months, the country has confined residents of entire cities to their homes, ceased domestic transport links and rolled out mass testing to the population.

A total of 61 domestic cases were reported in China on Tuesday after the highly transmissible Delta variant reached multiple cities following infections among airport cleaners in Nanjing.

A chain of Covid-19 cases was soon reported throughout the country.

To date, China has tested millions of residents in major cities, including Beijing.

Simultaneously, residential compounds are cordoned off, and close contacts are placed in quarantine.

Covid-19 was first detected in Wuhan towards the end of 2019, prompting a strict city-wide lockdown lasting 76 days in Jan 2020. /TISG

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