Wuhan Says 3 Million Residents Given Virus Test

Wuhan, the original epicentre of the new coronavirus outbreak on the mainland, has tested over 3 million residents for the pathogen since April, and will now focus its testing efforts on the rest of its 11 million population, according to state media.

Wuhan will conduct tests on everyone in the city, with the goal of getting a clear number of asymptomatic cases as businesses and schools reopen, the official Xinhua News Agency reported late on Thursday.

Recently, Wuhan has detected several to more than a dozen asymptomatic infections every day. Although those people are all treated in isolation, they still spark concern in the society, Xinhua said.

Some experts say the mass testing is unprecedented in scale, and shows the level of concern. Others warn on potential testing errors due to the sheer size of the sampling.

On Friday, the mainland reported four new confirmed cases for May 14, up from three cases a day earlier, the National Health Commission said.

All of the new cases were locally transmitted and the number of new asymptomatic cases fell slightly to 11 from 12 a day earlier.

The total number of confirmed cases on the mainland now stands at 82,933 while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,633, according the latest official figures.

The mainland does not include asymptomatic virus carriers in its tally of confirmed cases. It also does not disclose the overall number of asymptomatic cases in the country. (Reuters)