China: Wuhan authority to test all residents as Covid-19 returns
New Delhi: The Chinese authority in Wuhan has decided to test all the residents of the province as cases of coronavirus emerged over there. The administration said that “the government will test its entire population for Covid-19 after the central Chinese city where the coronavirus emerged reported.”
According to the media reports, China is battling its largest coronavirus outbreak in months, confining the residents of entire cities to their homes, cutting transport links, and rolling out mass testing as the fast-spreading Delta variant challenges its zero-Covid strategy and home-grown vaccines.
China reported more than 400 cases since mid-July when a cluster among airport cleaners in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, sparked infections in over 20 cities across more than a dozen provinces.
On Tuesday – Li Tao, a senior city official of Wuhan in a statement said that “Wuhan, a city of 11 million, is “swiftly launching comprehensive nucleic acid testing of all residents.”
Authorities announced on Monday that seven locally transmitted infections had been found among migrant workers in the city, breaking a year-long streak without domestic cases after it squashed an initial outbreak with an unprecedented lockdown in early 2020.
Major cities including the capital Beijing have now tested millions of residents while cordoning off residential compounds and placing close contacts under quarantine. China reported 61 domestic cases on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Beijing has blocked tourists from entering the capital during the peak summer holiday travel season and asked residents not to leave unless necessary, with top officials vowing over the weekend to “spare no expense” in defending the city.
