China has been largely coronavirus free since the middle of China Gust, with all cases reported by the country imported from elsewhere. But as of October 11, Qingdao has reportedly transmitted about a dozen cases locally, all associated with hospitals treating imported infections, the city’s Municipal Health Commission said in a statement Monday.
As of Monday, 114,862 people, with staff and patients, have already undergone a mass trial at Kingdao Chest Hospital, which is on lockdown.
Now that clusters of checks have been found there will now be nationwide testing for a total population of nine million people, repeating the type of mass response previously seen in Beijing and other Chinese cities.
Since the country’s initial outbreak in March, those reactions have managed to keep China’s overall infection rate low. That has enabled life to return to relative normalcy, with more than 600 million tourists traveling for Golden Week this month, a national holiday around the mid-autumn festival.
A cluster of Qingdao, a popular city with numerous beaches and tourists located on the east coast, will increase the risk of a potential spike in holiday-related cases.
Port city officials said the specific source of the infection is still under investigation.
As of this week, China has reported 85,578 confirmed cases and 4,634 people have died from the coronavirus, according to the country’s National Health Commission.
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