Article by: Emma Clayfield
The city of Wuhan in China has ordered all its 11 million citizens to get tested for Coronavirus as they discovered 6 new confirmed cases since their lockdown has been lifted.
Wuhan, China in the original epicenter of the Coronavirus outbreak and had no new recorded cases until this past weekend.
The 6 new cases were discovered over a period of a weekend, in a residential neighborhood of Sanmin.
The Wuhan Health Commission said that an 89-year-old man in the neighborhood displayed symptoms as early as March, but it wasn’t confirmed as a case until Saturday. His wife and four others in the neighborhood all tested positive for COVID-19 the next day although they were asymptomatic.
Reports emerged that the municipal Wuhan government fired a local official because of poor disease control in his neighborhood.
Reports confirm that Wuhan authorities issued a document (link in Chinese) yesterday requiring anti-virus teams in all districts to submit detailed plans by today on how they are going to test its residents to see whether they have contracted the novel coronavirus, which has killed 3,869 in the city, according to state-owned media outlet The Paper.
“Wuhan is still facing huge pressure to control the current epidemic,” the health commission said. “We need to pay close attention to control both imported cases as well as local cases, and resolutely contain the resurgence of COVID-19.”
Quartz reported that tests would need to be conducted within 10 days and should prioritize people such as those living in older compounds or in densely packed residential buildings, or people originally from outside of Wuhan who are more likely to travel between different places, according to the document, which called the endeavor a “10-day battle.” It is unclear how the department plans to meet the huge volume of testing kits required.
It is no secret that U.S President Donald Trump has tirelessly voiced his belief of conspiracy theories surrounding the outbreak of the Coronavirus, labeling it an attack and “The Chinese Virus”. Trump has went on to publicly voice that he has evidence that the Novel Coronavirus was created in a virology pan in Wuhan China.
The World Health Organisation has reiterated that the coronavirus is believed to be “natural in origin”, responding to a claim by US President Donald Trump that he had seen evidence that indicated the virus emerged from a virology institute in Wuhan, China.
Worldwide, the number of confirmed infections stands at more than 3.26 million, with some 233,000 deaths and more than one million recoveries.
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