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Wuhan tests 10m people in 10 days, nears completion of citywide testing drive |
The testing drive aims to better understand the number of asymptomatic cases or people who show no clear symptoms despite carrying the virus |
· 2020-06-03 · Source: People's Daily Online |
A child takes a nucleic acid test at a testing post set up at a primary school in Dongxihu District in Wuhan, Hubei Province in central China, May 15 (XINHUA) “Negative!” That was the good news that Yang Taizhen, a 96-year-old Wuhan citizen, got from her family when they told her the results of her nucleic acid test on May 23. Though Yang has not been out of her apartment since the community lockdown was introduced, the community still arranged for her to take a test out of safety concerns. “The government is doing a great thing and being responsible for all its citizens,” Yang said. About two weeks ago, Wuhan, the former epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in China, launched a citywide campaign to test all 11 million of its residents in ten days after six new cases emerged in a residential community earlier in May, breaking a 35-day streak of zero cases in the city. The testing drive aims to better understand the number of asymptomatic cases or people who show no clear symptoms despite carrying the virus. From May 15 to May 24, samples were taken from more than 9 million residents and over 6.5 million have been tested, with 218 asymptomatic cases being identified, according to the Wuhan Health Commission. On May 22, more than 10 percent of the city’s population, or 1.47 million citizens, were tested in a single day. Determined to leave no person behind, the city has set up 231 sampling sites, searching for and testing residents who were left out of the initial drive. As of May 31, a total of 320 asymptomatic carriers in Wuhan have been put under quarantine and their close contacts were being closely tracked, according to the city’s health commission. Race against time Processing tests for a city of around 10 million is no easy task, and communities are doing their best to ensure people’s safety. Since the testing campaign began, the local health authority has been releasing the number of new asymptomatic infections every single day on its official website. Like Wang, more and more citizens are going out after the testing campaign. The city has seen life gradually return to normal, with the hustle and bustle of normal times returning to public places. The testing campaign in Wuhan is a very difficult task, but it is necessary, said Zeng Yixin, vice-minister of the National Health Commission. “Expanding the scope of nucleic acid testing is being done not only to protect people’s health, but also to better restore social and economic order.” |
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