Authorities in the Chinese city of Wuhan will start testing its whole population, following detection of some positive Covid infections.
The Covid-19 virus was first detected in Wuhan in 2019, before spreading across the globe, catapulting the city into the spotlight.
The seven new locally transmitted cases are the first recorded in Wuhan in over a year. In response, Chinese authorities will test the 11 million people who live in the city.
Currently, China is experiencing one of its biggest outbreaks in months, affecting 15 provinces around the country. A total of 300 cases were detected in 10 days, leading the government to roll out lockdown restrictions and mass testing measures.
The spread of the virus is due to a combination of the highly contagious Delta variant and the domestic tourism season.
A surge in Covid cases
On Tuesday, China reported 90 new cases of coronavirus, 61 of which were local transmissions. In comparison, the National Health Commission say there were 55 local cases the day before.
Until now, China were mainly successful in controlling the virus within its borders. But this recent spread, first detected amid people working at a busy Nanjing airport, is causing concern. Some 9.2 million residents of Nanjing have had three lots of tests by authorities, and hundreds of thousands of people are in lockdown.
The latest cases emerged in popular tourist destination Zhangjiajie in Hunan province, shifting focus to there. Travellers from Nanjing visiting the city recently are most likely responsible for bringing the virus with them. Particular attention is on a theatre in the city, with health officials attempting to trace around 5,000 attendees. These people typically visited the area only for the performances, before travelling back home to their own cities.
China’s leading respiratory disease expert, Zhong Nanshan, says “Zhangjiajie has now become the new ground zero for China’s epidemic spread”.
China’s capital, Beijing, is also now affected, reporting a number of locally transmitted infections.
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