Second city in China to carry out mass testing for COVID-19
People's Daily
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People in Mudanjiang receive nucleic acid tests for COVID-19 in their community. (Photo: CGTN)

Mudanjiang, a northeastern border city in China, has started to conduct citywide nucleic acid tests since early this week to assess some 2.8 million people, according to the local government, an announcement came after 15 asymptomatic COVID-19 patients reported there last week.

Municipal health authorities have determined to further expand their nucleic acid testing team, consisting of 1,196 people from over 20 medical institutions that had been trained and prepared for the testing.

Recently, the COVID-19 epidemic has reemerged on China's northeastern border, after a growing number of imported cases and cross infections were reported there.

On May 25, high school classes were suspended again, just one month after students in the city had resumed classes. Meanwhile, the Mudanjiang Highway passenger terminal stopped operation in the early morning of May 27.

Mudanjiang will be the second city in China to conduct such a large-scale nucleic acid testing for COVID-19, following the former epicenter of Wuhan as a pioneer. 

On Tuesday, Wuhan authorities announced the results of its newly completed mass testing, which cost about 900 million yuan. It said 98,99,828 people were screened, and 300 asymptomatic cases were detected.

Authorities said the investigation outcome suggested that the proportion of asymptomatic infections in Wuhan is very low, which proves that the city is safe.