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The plan is still in its early stages, but Wuhan plans to test all of its inhabitants to outwit Covid-19.
The decision came after fearing a second wave in the city where the first cases of infection with the new coronavirus were recorded, in late 2019. Since April 3, Wuhan appeared to have a pandemic under control, with no new cases of infection. However, last weekend, the city registered six new cases of Covid-19.
Therefore, all city districts were instructed to develop their own plan to carry out the epidemiological investigation in ten days., based on population density and the existence, or not, of an active outbreak.
The so-called “ten-day battle” plan establishes that priority should be given to the aging of the population, as well as to densely populated communities.
Ambitious plan raises questions
The Chinese city plan has raised doubts in the medical community, as they consider that testing the entire city is not practical and expensive. Other opinions stress that the tests should have been carried out before Wuhan lifted the restriction measures on April 8.
Peng Zhiyong, director of the intensive care unit at Wuhan University Zhongnan Hospital, told the Global times than testing the 11 million people would be very costly, and therefore believes that the testing will most likely focus on key groups and communities, as close contacts of patients and relatives, as well as health professionals, the elderly and the population with chronic diseases.
On the other hand, Yang Zhanqiu, deputy director of the biology department of Wuhan University, emphasized that Approximately three to five million residents have already been evaluated, and he believes the city “is capable of evaluating the remaining six to eight million in ten days.”
From the point of view of monitoring the spread of the virus, Yang Zhanqiu argues that testing the entire city may be an unnecessary measure, as there is no guarantee that a person will not become infected after testing negative Covid-19. Therefore, it considers this to be “essentially an epidemiological investigation to determine the current situation” and that the tests would restore residents’ sense of security and speed up the process of returning to work and schools.
After a sudden spike in the number of cases over the weekend in the past 24 hours, Wuhan registered just one new case of infection, setting the number of infected people active in China at 115, of which ten are in serious condition. .
Since the beginning of the epidemic, China has registered more than 84,000 infected and 4,637 deaths due to Covid-19. So far, 78,171 people have been discharged.
