A north-eastern Chinese city of 2.8 million people has started screening all residents for COVID-19 to prevent a fresh coronavirus outbreak after a new infection cluster with ‘unknown source’ emerged in late May.
The city of Mudanjiang in Heilongjiang province has recorded a total of 15 domestic infections with no symptoms since May 26, prompting local authorities to kick off city-wide mass testing this week.
Mudanjiang is the second city in China to conduct such city-scale coronavirus screening. Wuhan, where the pandemic began, was the first Chinese metropolis to test its 10million residents in 19 days.
Social media footage filmed by alleged Mudanjiang residents shows people waiting in long queues to receive nucleic acid tests.
The city of Mudanjiang is situated in a north-eastern Chinese region of over 100million people, Dongbei, which has been ravaged by the deadly disease after two cities went into Wuhan-style lockdown in May.
On May 26, local health authorities reported the cluster's first two cases, a couple who contracted the killer bug from an unknown source that officials are still trying to track down.
Two days later, Mudanjiang officials reported nine more asymptomatic patients. Another four new cases were recorded by Monday.
The 13 infected residents were said to be all linked to the couple who first contracted the deadly virus, according to official statements.
The ‘mysterious’ cluster drove the authorities to close railway and coach stations On May 27. Domestic and international flights were cancelled. Schools suspended classes and sent students home.
The local government released a directive on June 1 and announced to expand the coronavirus testing to the whole city, Chinese media reported.
But the document appears to have been removed from the government website as of today.
A screenshot of the notice released by the media suggests that the authorities appointed nearly 2,000 medical workers to carry out the mass screening.
On Tuesday, officials resumed outbound flights but only passengers who could provide coronavirus testing results would be allowed to leave.
The city government has yet to release an official notice to seal off all residential complexes, but online posts from citizens have claimed that their compounds were put under isolation.
Heilongjiang reported a total of 15 asymptomatic infections as of today. All of them were found in the city of Mudanjiang. The province recorded a total of 561 confirmed domestic cases and 548 have recovered.
Mudanjiang is the second city in China to conduct such city-scale coronavirus screening. Wuhan, where the pandemic began, was the first Chinese metropolis to do so.
Wuhan, a city of 11million people, ordered its entire population to be tested for COVID-19 in a '10-day great battle' on May 14 after a new cluster of infection emerged.
The ambitious campaign in the end took nearly three weeks to complete.
On Tuesday, Wuhan officials claimed that they found zero confirmed COVID-19 infections during the city-wide testing.
But authorities detected 300 asymptomatic patients, those who show no symptoms but can still spread the virus.
Beijing's top health official claimed that 'Wuhan is now the safest city in China' after the mass testing screened some 10million people for coronavirus.
Wuhan officials recorded a total of seven confirmed cases between May 10 and May 11. All the patients lived in the same residential compound, Sanmin Residence, in the Chinese city.
Four patients had been discharged from local hospitals as of Wednesday, according to the Wuhan Health Commission. Three others - including one critical patient - are receiving medical treatment.
Wuhan has recorded a total of 50,340 confirmed COVID-19 cases and at least 3,869 deaths. More than 46,000 patients have been discharged from hospitals.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
