Wuhan to complete nucleic acid test before Friday

Beijing, Aug 5 Amid a resurgence of new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases, authorities in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province where the pandemic originated in 2019, have planned to complete a new round of all-inclusive nucleic acid testing before Friday.

Last year, Wuhan completed a comprehensive nucleic acid testing campaign, during which it tested nearly 10 million residents in 19 days, Xinhua news agency reported.

It launched a new testing drive on Tuesday after new infections emerged among several migrant workers on Monday.

Between Monday and Tuesday, Wuhan reported 12 locally transmitted confirmed cases of COVID-19 and eight locally transmitted asymptomatic cases, all related to the cluster infections in Jiangsu province, the authorities said.

The city has set up 2,820 sampling sites and mobilised over 18,000 medical workers and other staff members to work there, said Peng Houpeng, vice director of Wuhan's health commission, at a press conference on Wednesday.

The method of pooled sampling will be adopted in medium- and low-risk areas to boost efficiency, while individual testing will be reserved for areas or groups of people with higher infection risks, according to Peng.

As of Wednesday, approximately 2.5 million Wuhan residents had been sampled.

Wuhan has also imposed close-off management on 56 residential complexes that are close to the new infections or home to their close contacts, said Peng Lili, vice director of the city's civil affairs bureau.

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