3 million tests in 2 days after Covid outbreak in Chinese city

Beijing, Oct 13 (efe-epa).- Authorities in the Chinese city of Qingdao have carried out more than three million Covid-19 tests in just two days following a local outbreak.

The Qingdao regional health commission said in a statement that it had overseen 3,078,528 nucleic acid tests and had obtained 1,107,883 results, all of which were negative.

All of the city’s hospital and medical staff and patients have been tested, officials added.

The testing campaign is set to continue until Friday with the aim of testing the city’s nine million inhabitants, despite the fact that 12 people who tested positive for coronavirus so far — half of whom had no symptoms — were all linked to the same hospital, according to state media.

The center in question is the Qingdao Chest Hospital, which also screens foreign travellers for Covid-19, it was reported.

Investigations into the outbreak are ongoing.

The contagion could have occurred after a CAT scan machine was not properly disinfected, an anonymous hospital source told China News Weekly.

Qingdao authorities reported two asymptomatic coronavirus cases on 24 September linked to port workers who had been unloading containers of frozen seafood.

Cold chain trade and imports of frozen goods from countries with high coronavirus infection rates became the focus of health authorities in China for their link to a series of small outbreaks, including one detected in a seafood processing plant in the city of Dalian in July.

The port city of Qingdao — known as the capital of beer for its production of the popular Tsingtao brand — is one of the entry points for foreigners wishing to travel to China.