The entire population of the Chinese city of Qingdao will be tested for Covid-19 over a period of five days.
The 9 million population testing comes after a dozen cases were found linked back to a hospital treating coronavirus patients arriving from overseas.
In May, China tested the entire city of Wuhan – home to 11 million people and the epicenter of the global pandemic.
China has largely brought the virus under control.
That’s in stark contrast to other parts of the world where there are still high case numbers and lockdown restrictions of varying severity.
In a statement posted to Chinese social media site Weibo, Qingdao’s Municipal Health Commission said six new cases and six asymptomatic cases had been discovered.
According to the Global Times, all the cases were linked to the same hospital.
China now has a strategy of mass testing even when a new coronavirus cluster appears to be relatively minor.
Qingdao’s commission added that a citywide testing program had been launched, with five districts to be tested within three days – and the whole city to be tested within five days.
Some 114,862 people – including medical staff and newly hospitalized patients in the city’s hospitals – have already tested negative for the coronavirus, it said.
Videos circulating online showed local residents lining up on October 11 to get tested, said the Global Times, adding that some of these test points were open from 7AM to 11PM.
The new cases come a week after China’s Golden Week holiday – which saw millions travel across the country.
A Global Times report quoting the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism said the city had received 4.47 million passenger trips over this period.
The nearby city of Jinan, which is also in the same province as Qingdao, called for anyone who had visited the city since September 23 to get tested for the virus, according to a report by The Paper.
Earlier last month, Qingdao announced that two port workers in the city who handled imported seafood had tested positive for the virus. However, they were not known to have infected anyone else.
Daily coronavirus infections have fallen drastically in China, and for the most part the country appears to have recovered from the worst of the virus.
China currently has 85,578 virus cases and the death toll stands at 4,634.
Earlier this year, China completed a mass testing program in Wuhan saying 11 million people had been tested in 10 days.
In Wuhan, the epicenter of China’s outbreak, all traffic lights in urban areas were turned red at 10:00, ceasing traffic for three minutes.
The Chinese government said the event was a chance to pay respects to “martyrs”, a reference to the 14 medical workers who died battling the virus.
They include Li Wenliang, a doctor in Wuhan who died of Covid-19 after being reprimanded by the authorities for attempting to warn others about the disease.
Wearing white flowers pinned to their chest, China’s President Xi Jinping and other government officials paid silent tribute in Beijing.
The commemorations coincide with the annual Qingming festival, when millions of Chinese families pay respects to their ancestors.
China first informed the WHO about cases of pneumonia with unknown causes on December 31, 2019.
By January 18, 2020, the confirmed number of cases had risen to around 60 – but experts estimated the real figure was closer to 1,700.
Just two days later, as millions of people prepared to travel for the lunar new year, the number of cases more than tripled to more than 200 and the virus was detected in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
From that point, the virus began to spread rapidly in Asia and then Europe, eventually reaching every corner of the globe.
However, in the past few weeks, China has started to ease travel and social-distancing restrictions, believing it has brought the health emergency under control.
Last week, Wuhan partially re-opened after more than two months of isolation.
On April 4, China reported 19 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, down from 31 a day earlier. China’s health commission said 18 of those cases involved travelers arriving from abroad.
As it battles to control cases coming from abroad, China temporarily banned all foreign visitors, even if they have visas or residence permits.
As the coronavirus crisis in China abates, the rest of the world remains firmly in the grip of the disease.
Wuhan, the Chinese city where the coronavirus
pandemic began, has partially re-opened after more than two months of
isolation.
Crowds of passengers were pictured arriving at Wuhan train station on March
28.
According to reports, people are being allowed to enter but not leave.
Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, saw more than 50,000 coronavirus cases.
At least 3,000 people in the province died from the disease.
However, numbers have fallen dramatically, according to China’s figures. On
March 28, the state reported 54 new cases emerging the previous day – which it
said were all imported.
As it battles to control cases coming from abroad, China has announced a
temporary ban on all foreign visitors, even if they have visas or residence
permits. It is also limiting Chinese and foreign airlines to one flight per
week, and flights must not be more than 75% full.
The new coronavirus is thought to
have originated in a seafood market in Wuhan that “conducted illegal
transactions of wild animals”.
Wuhan’s 11 million residents have
been shut off from the rest of the world since the middle of January, with
roadblocks around the outskirts and drastic restrictions on daily life.
However, roads reopened to incoming traffic late on March 27, according to
Reuters.
State media said the subway was open from March 28 and trains would be able
to arrive at the city’s 17 railway stations.
All arrivals in Wuhan have to show a green code on a mobile app to prove
that they are healthy.
Officials say restrictions on people leaving Wuhan will be lifted on April 8,
when domestic flights are also expected to restart.
The new coronavirus emerged in China in December 2019 and more than 3,300
people there have died from the infection – but both Italy and Spain now have
higher death tolls.
It is now battling to control a wave of imported cases as infections soar
abroad.
This so-called “second wave” of imported infections is also
affecting countries like South Korea and Singapore, which had been successful
in stopping the spread of disease in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the virus continues to
spread rapidly in other countries around the world.
Nearly 600,000 infections have been confirmed globally and almost 28,000 deaths, according to figures collated by Johns Hopkins University.
According to Chinese state media, the hotel was being used as a quarantine
facility monitoring people who had had close contact with coronavirus patients.
Xinjia Hotel reportedly opened in 2018 and had 80 guest rooms.
One woman told the Beijing News
website that relatives including her sister had been under quarantine there.
She said: “I can’t contact them, they’re not answering their phones.
“I’m under quarantine too [at another hotel] and I’m
very worried, I don’t know what to do. They were healthy, they took their
temperatures every day, and the tests showed that everything was normal.”
As of March 6, Fujian province had 296 cases of coronavirus. Meanwhile
10,819 people have been placed under observation because they have been in
close contact with someone infected.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 101,000 people
worldwide have now contracted the virus.
More than 3,000 people have died – the majority in the Chinese province of Hubei where the outbreak originated.
Travelers from countries with severe
coronavirus outbreaks who arrive in some parts of China will have to undergo a
14-day quarantine, state media announce.
People coming from the virus hotspots of South Korea, Japan, Iran and Italy
arriving in Beijing will have to be isolated, an official has said.
Shanghai and Guangdong announced similar restrictions earlier.
Authorities are worried the virus might be imported back into China.
Although most coronavirus deaths have been in China, on March 2 there were nine
times more new infections outside China than in.
Shanghai said it would require new arrivals from countries with
“relatively serious virus conditions” to be isolated, without naming
the countries.
Authorities are also asking overseas Chinese to reconsider travel plans.
Officials in one southern Chinese province said: “For the sake of your family’s health and safety, please
strengthen your precautions, carefully decide on your travel plans and minimize
mobility.”
On March 3, China reported 125 new virus cases – the lowest number of new
daily infections in six weeks. There were also 31 more deaths – all in Hubei
province, where the virus emerged.
There are now almost 90,000 cases worldwide in about 70 countries, although
the vast majority – just under 90% – remain in China, and most of those are in
Hubei province where the virus originated late last year.
Of the nearly 8,800 cases outside China, 81% are in four countries – Iran,
South Korea, Italy and Japan.
One of the countries worst affected outside China – Italy – said on March 2
that the death toll there had risen by 18 to 52. There are 1,835 confirmed
cases, most of them in the Lombardy and Veneto areas of the north. Nearly 150
people are said to have recovered.
However, Italy is seeing a slowdown in new cases. On March 2, the authorities said there were 258 new cases of the virus – a 16% increase on the previous day – after new cases spiked by 50% on March 1.
According to the WHO, there was also no major shift in the coronavirus’s
pattern of mortality or severity.
On February 12, Hubei recorded 242 deaths, the deadliest day of the
outbreak.
There was also a huge increase in cases, with 14,840 people diagnosed but
most of this was down to Hubei using a broader definition to diagnose people,
said Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s health emergencies program.
He said: “This does not represent
a significant change in the trajectory of the outbreak.”
Outside China there had been two deaths and 447 cases in 24 countries, he
said.
On February 13, Japan announced its first coronavirus death – a woman in her
80s who lived in Kanagawa, south-west of Tokyo.
The woman’s diagnosis was confirmed after her death and she had no obvious
link to China’s Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, Japanese media
reported.
The Diamond Princess cruise ship is in quarantine in Yokohama. Not all the
3,700 people on board have been tested yet.
People with the virus are taken to hospitals on land to be treated, while
those on board are largely confined to their cabins.
On February 13, Japan said it would
allow those aged 80 or over who have tested negative for the coronavirus to
disembark.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said
they could be allowed off the ship as early as February 14 but would have to
stay in accommodation provided by the government, the Japan Times reported.
Meanwhile another cruise ship – the
MS Westerdam – carrying more than 2,000 people docked in Cambodia after being
turned away by ports in Japan, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines and Thailand
despite having no sick patients on board.
Until February 13 increases, the number of people with the virus in Hubei
was stabilizing.
The new cases and deaths in the province have pushed the national death toll
above 1,350 with almost 60,000 infections in total.
White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said there had been
“surprise” in the US at the new cases.
He said: “We’re a little
disappointed in the lack of transparency coming from the Chinese, these numbers
are jumping around.”
The Trump administration was also disappointed that China had not accepted a
US offer to send experts to help China respond to the outbreak, Larry Kudlow
said.
China sacked two top officials in Hubei province hours after the new figures
were revealed.
Only Hubei province – which accounts for more than 80% of overall Chinese infections – is using the new definition to diagnose new cases.
Chinese authorities have increased lockdown
measures across Hubei province to try to control the spread of the new virus
that has left 18 people dead in the country.
Wuhan, Hubei’s capital of 11 million
people where the coronavirus first emerged, has no trains or planes in or out.
At least five other provincial
cities are seeing clampdowns on transport.
There are more than 500 confirmed
cases of the virus, which has spread abroad, with Singapore and Vietnam the
latest affected.
The new strain of coronavirus is
believed to have originated at a market in Wuhan. One resident of the city said
the atmosphere there felt like “the end of the world”.
The lockdown measures come as
millions of people travel across China for the Lunar New Year holiday.
All the fatalities bar one so far have been in Hubei province. Most of the
17 victims there were elderly and suffered from other chronic diseases
including Parkinson’s disease and diabetes.
An 18th victim, an elderly patient, was announced on January 23 in Hebei
province, near the capital, Beijing.
Wuhan’s public transport lockdown came into force as of 10:00 local time,
leaving normally busy train stations and airports empty.
One Wuhan resident said on social media site Weibo that people were on the
“verge of tears” when they heard about the closures.
Health authorities are reported to
have made wearing a mask mandatory in Wuhan. They are advising people to avoid
crowds and public gatherings.
Demand for rubber gloves and
surgical masks has soared. Taobao, the Chinese online retail giant, has warned
sellers not to profit from the outbreak by raising prices.
Huanggang, a city east of Wuhan, suspended bus and rail services and
encouraged people not to leave the city. Cafes, cinemas, theatres and
exhibitions are also being shut.
Ezhou, a city just south of Huanggang, has shut its train
stations.
Xiantaohas canceled gatherings, suspended
transport and set up temperature detection stations.
Chibi and Lichuanare
suspending transport.
Beijing announced it had canceled all major Chinese New Year celebrations.
The new virus discovered in China, known also as 2019-nCoV, is understood to
be a new strain of coronavirus that has not previously been identified in
humans.
Coronaviruses are a broad family of viruses, but only six (the new one would
make it seven) are known to infect people.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised people to avoid
“unprotected” contact with live animals, thoroughly cook meat and
eggs, and avoid close contact with anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms.
Signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath
and breathing difficulties.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging
from the common cold to more severe disease. It’s not yet clear how bad this
new coronavirus is.
If a patient has recovered from the infection, they should not pose a
significant risk to others and can be sent home from hospital provided they are
well enough.
The first human cases were identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in
December 2019.
There have not been any other suspected human cases reported prior to this.
Given the type of virus, the incubation period (how long it takes for
symptoms to appear after catching the infection) is days, rather than weeks.
It is not yet known how or when the virus became infectious to people.
Experts believe the first cases were transmitted by an animal.
At the moment, there is no vaccine that can protect people against this type
of coronavirus, but researchers are looking to develop one.
It is a new strain that hasn’t been seen in humans before, which means
doctors still have lots to learn about it.
Based on currently available information, the WHO has not recommended any
restrictions on travel or trade.
You should re-check the latest travel advice before you depart.
Extra airport checks such as temperature scans have been put in place to screen
some travelers in some countries/states.
Airports in Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo have been screening air
passengers from Wuhan and US authorities last week announced similar measures
at three major airports in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.
It is not yet known how the virus
was transmitted. Other coronaviruses, such as SARS and MERS, came from cats and
camels respectively.
Experts are working to find the
source.
Standard recommendations to prevent
infection apply. These include:
regular hand washing
covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing
thoroughly cooking meat and eggs
Avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.
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