Ian Patrick, FISM News
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The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the first cases of COVID-19 were reported, will be testing its entire population for COVID-19 infections after three were reported on Monday.
After being the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wuhan shut everything down to control the spread within the nation after it had already become a global issue. China has self-reportedly been successful in controlling the spread of the virus after the initial outbreak, and lifted their lockdown measures in Wuhan early on into the pandemic.
But new locally-transmitted cases have officials on edge prompting this new round of massive testing. By August 3, China as a whole reported 485 locally transmitted cases with symptoms according to Reuters. It is currently unknown how many involve the highly transmissible Delta variant.
In the city of Nanjing, cleaners at the Nanjing Lukou International Airport tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 after returning on a flight from Russia. This is believed to be a major source, if not the main reason, for the nationwide outbreak but other cases have been popping up in other localities further away.
In Zhengzhou, a hospital treating patients from outside of China has reportedly caused most of the original local cases reported there since July 31. In Zhangjiajie, there are reports of people from another province who were infected spreading the virus after attending a show at a local theater. Otherwise, cases have also been reported in cities as far as Beijing and Zhuhai.
Wuhan official Li Qiang told a news briefing that “nucleic acid testing will be quickly launched for all people to fully screen out positive results and asymptomatic infections.” Some of these cities have also reinstated certain lockdown measures to keep people at home, limit travel, and help with testing. Nanjing and Yangzhou have suspended domestic flights while Zhangjiajie has banned leaving the city altogether.
Wuhan has been under renewed scrutiny as a new congressional report points to the Wuhan Institute of Virology as accidentally leaking the virus, with a cover-up following the leak.