Wuhan gears up to test its 11 million people

Beijing, May 13

China has reported 15 new coronavirus cases, including eight asymptomatic ones, while the epicentre of the deadly virus Wuhan city, which announced plans to test all of its over 11 million people, has confirmed no new COVID-19 infection, health authorities said on Wednesday.

According to China’s National Health Commission (NHC), seven new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported on Tuesday of which one is imported and the other six cases locally transmitted.

Also on Tuesday, eight new asymptomatic cases were reported taking their total to 750, the NHC said.

Hubei province and its capital Wuhan where the coronavirus first emerged in December last year, reported no new case on Tuesday, health officials said.

But Wuhan city reported 598 asymptomatic cases causing concern among the local people about a rebound of COVID-19.

The emergence of the new cluster of six cases has prompted the government to test all of its over 11 million population after the lockdown was lifted and the city returned to normal.

Hubei province and its capital Wuhan on April 8 lifted a prolonged lockdown clamped on January 23 as the disease spread through the region like wildfire.

The city has prepared a 10-day plan to test all its residents.

By Tuesday, the death toll from the virus in Hubei province stood at 4,512, including 3,869 in Wuhan.

Hubei has so far reported 68,134 confirmed COVID-19 cases in total, including 50,339 in Wuhan.

The overall death toll in China stood at 4,633 people as of Tuesday while the total number of cases increased to 82,926, including 104 patients who were still being treated. The condition of ten people was stated to be serious, the NHC report said. — PTI