China may test all of Wuhan amid fears of virus comeback

BEIJING (AP) — Authorities in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic first broke out, are planning to test all 11 million residents in the next 10 days, Chinese media reported.

No official announcement has been made, but district officials confirmed receiving marching orders from the city’s coronavirus task force, the reports said. It remained unclear if and how such a monumental testing campaign would happen.

The short order came after the discovery last weekend of a cluster of six infected people at a residential compound in the city, the first new cases in more than a month. China has moved quickly to snuff out new outbreaks wherever they pop up, even as it relaxes restrictions on the movement of people and reopens public attractions to limited numbers of visitors.

Wuhan was the area hit hardest by the coronavirus in China. Of the 4,633 reported deaths nationwide, 4,512 were in Hubei province, including 3,869 in Wuhan, the provincial capital.

China imposed a lengthy lockdown on most of Hubei in late January to stem the spread of the virus. People were forbidden from entering or leaving the province, public transportation suspended and residents were mostly restricted to their homes.

The lockdown was lifted outside of Wuhan after two months, and in Wuhan itself on April 8, after 2 1/2 months.

The new cases appear to have shocked city officials into action. They dismissed the Communist Party secretary of the neighborhood where the cluster was found for poor management of the residential community, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The order said the testing should focus on the elderly, densely populated areas and those with mobile populations, according to the media reports. It wasn’t clear if that meant only some people would be tested or if they would be prioritized.

We want to hear from you! Email us at star@gleanerjm.com and follow @thejamaicastar on Instagram and on twitter @JamaicaStar, and on Facebook: @TheJamaicaStar.