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Nearly 10 million people in the Chinese city of Qingdao have been tested for the coronavirus, officials said Thursday, as authorities scrambled to quell an outbreak through an ambitious mass testing program.
Vice Mayor Luan Xin said more than 9.9 million samples had been collected and 7.6 million results had been returned, adding that no new cases had been found.
The city has already confirmed 13 cases, Luan said at a regular briefing on Thursday, adding that health workers were on track to complete testing of 9.4 million residents and another 1.5 million visitors by Friday. , just five days after the show’s launch.
The massive trial follows the discovery of a dozen cases related to the Qingdao Municipal Chest Hospital, which was treating coronavirus patients arriving from abroad.
The head of that facility, Deng Kai, was fired on Thursday. The local health office said he had been “removed from office” and was “under further investigation,” but did not provide further details.
Of the 13 confirmed cases, eight were treated at the Qingdao Municipal Chest Hospital and one is a relative of a patient.
Authorities have not shared details of the other four, but said Thursday that all the cases in the city are “closely related” to the hospital.
However, authorities said they were still working to determine the precise source of the outbreak in Qingdao.
Deng’s dismissal comes a day after the head of the city’s health bureau, Sui Zhenhua, was “suspended from office” and placed under investigation.
The Beijing National Health Commission has not provided details on why Sui was suspended.
The outbreak in the port city snapped a two-month streak with no reported virus transmissions within China, although the country has a practice of not reporting asymptomatic cases.
And unlike previous outbreaks in major Chinese cities, Qingdao has not been blocked, and residents and visitors can come and go as they please.
Beijing has praised its rapid testing capabilities, with the ruling Communist Party eager to project an image of victory over the virus as much of the world struggles with lockdowns and massive outbreaks.
prw / oho / th
