Chinese city to test 9 million inhabitants after 12 test Covid-19 positive
Beijing, Oct 12 (efe-epa) – Authorities in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao announced on Monday that they would test the city’s more than 9 million inhabitants for the coronavirus after 12 people were found positive for the disease.
In a statement posted on its website, the Qingdao Municipal Health Commission said it detected three asymptomatic cases on Sunday and proceeded to test 377 close contacts of the infected person that led to another nine positive results
Of the nine new infections, eight are patients or caregivers at the Qingdao Chest Hospital. One is a relative of an infected person.
The authorities confirmed two of those previously diagnosed asymptomatic patients after they displayed Covid-19 related symptoms.
That brought the total for the time being, according to the Commission, to six confirmed and six asymptomatic cases.
The authorities had assigned the Qingdao hospital to treat travelers arriving in China from overseas who had tested positive for the virus at border controls.The campaign will last for five days and will cover the entire population of the city, which has more than nine million inhabitants.
The municipal health authorities said almost 115,000 employees and patients at hospitals in Qingdao had tested negative for the virus.
Health authorities do not include asymptomatic cases in official data. The National Health Commission said they detected three asymptomatic patients of local transmission on Sunday.
In the absence of confirmation by Chinese health authorities, these cases could mean an end to the 57-day streak without a local infection recorded in the country.
Sources cited by local media said it was still unknown how the three asymptomatic patients were infected.
According to data published by the National Health Commission on Monday, 21 new imported and 32 asymptomatic cases were detected the previous day.
Official data states that there are currently 230 active infections in China with 395 asymptomatic infections and 7,961 contacts of infected people under observation. EFE-EPA
jt/pd/ssk
