China to test entire Wuhan population of 11m after another Covid outbreak
3 August 2021, 10:06
China is set to test all 11 million Wuhan residents after another Covid outbreak in the city where the coronavirus was first detected in 2019.
The National Health Commission reported eight cases in Wuhan on Tuesday, three of which being symptomatic and five asymptomatic, the Guardian reports.
Wuhan, a provincial capital in central China, is just the latest to undergo city-wide testing, following its first non-imported cases in more than a year.
Since the initial outbreak in the city, authorities have clamped down and controlled the disease whenever it pops up with quick lockdowns and mass testing to isolate infected people.
In the 24 hours to Monday evening, 90 new cases were reported across the whole country, 61 locally spread ones and 29 among people who had recently arrived from abroad.
It comes as China recently saw its worst outbreak of Covid-19 since its first wave.
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Thought to have originated in Nanjing airport, the virus has spread to at least 15 cities and five provinces.
Most of the local cases are still in the Jiangsu province, where it started, but the country's capital - Beijing - is among those with growing cases in recent days.
Authorities said the Delta variant was the reason behind the increase in infection rates, along with tourism.
Government-affiliated scientists have said that Chinese vaccines are less effective against the new strains but still offer some protection.
Only Chinese vaccines are currently being given in China, where authorities say more than 1.6 billion doses have been administered.
