Wuhan will conduct coronavirus tests for its entire population, according to an internal document obtained by Reuters and two other sources.
The Chinese city of Wuhan is where the global coronavirus outbreak started. The document reveals that there will be a city-wide nucleic acid testing for 10 days.
Moreover, the districts will lay out a detailed testing plan for their respective areas by Tuesday.
The plan for massive coronavirus testing come as fears for a potential second wave of coronavirus cases rise.
Wuhan reported its first surge of coronavirus infections since loosening their lockdown a month ago. This triggered concerns about a wider coronavirus resurgence.
The five new coronavirus cases came from the same residential compound. This emerged as different parts of the country begin to ease restrictions.
"We must resolutely contain the risk of a rebound," the health authority in Wuhan, a city with a population of about 11 million, said in a statement on Monday.
The most recent cases in Wuhan were reported as asymptomatic. Meanwhile, Wuhan is monitoring hundreds of asymptomatic cases.
Wuhan already held 47,000 nucleic acid tests on average each day since easing their lockdown, according to Reuters' calculations. These figures are based on reports by the city's health authority.
Meanwhile, China does not take into account asymptomatic cases in its overall count of coronavirus infections. Their tally is now at 82,918, while Mainland China has recorded 4,633 deaths.
On Friday, Beijing said announced that cinemas, museums and other venues would gradually resume their operations. However, they are expected to implement restrictions, such as mandatory reservations and a limit on numbers of visitors.
Some Shanghai nightspots are now open. Shanghai Disneyland reportedly reopened and accommodated a limited number of guests.
China's COVID-19 response
China ranks first on coronavirus outbreak response poll, according to a new report.
Insights agencies Blackbox Research and Toluna released the “Global Crisis Perceptions” index on Wednesday. Findings reveal that citizens from seven out of 23 countries find their governments’ coronavirus containment actions broadly positive.
Researchers asked around 12,500 people across 23 countries between April 3 and 19. They requested the citizens of each country to assess their governments across four key indicators. These are national political leadership, community, corporate leadership, and media.
China got a score of 85 out of 100. Following the world’s second largest economy are Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, and India.
Meanwhile, the international community commended New Zealand for handling the outbreak. The country started easing restrictions last year. It was the only Western country to score higher than the global average of 45.
Moreover, Australia, the US, and all four western European countries (Germany, the UK, Italy, and France all ranked below the global average.
David Black, founder and chief executive officer of Blackbox Research, suggests that the level of dissatisfaction particularly from Western countries has a deeper impact. The results could form a dent to national psyches in terms of expectations about preparedness for unexpected events.
“For many of these countries, this pandemic is unprecedented. Governments are still coming to terms with a crisis they did not expect, and public confidence suffered as a result,” said Black.
