Chinese city conducts 6.5m coronavirus tests in 10 days

Over 6.5 million nucleic acid tests to screen novel coronavirus infections was conducted within the space of 10 days in a Chinese city.

According to official data by local health authorities, 6,574,093 tests were carried out between May 14 and 23, in Wuhan.

Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said the city performed 1,146,156 tests on Saturday alone, more than 15 times the figure on May 14, when Wuhan kicked off the citywide testing campaign.

The aim was to better understand the number of asymptomatic cases of the virus.

The decision to expand the tests to cover all those who have not been tested before was made as Wuhan continued to report asymptomatic infections.

This raised public concerns as Wuhan reopened its factories, businesses and schools.

Prior to the campaign, the city had completed over 3 million coronavirus tests.

The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said the tests are voluntary and free of cost.

Priority was given to residential compounds that had previously reported infections, as well as old and densely populated buildings.

Children under the age of six are not advised to take the tests.

According to Xinhua Reporters, the tests have been met with great enthusiasm from the public, with mask-wearing residents forming long queues at improvised testing sites, they also maintained their physical distancing on the queues.