COVID-19: China to test 11m Wuhan residents in 10-days after recording new infections

Concerned authorities in the Chinese city of Wuhan are making arrangements to test all 11 million residents for COVID-19 within 10 days, after a handful of fresh infections were recorded in the area.

Health authorities are mulling the massive test exercise in the city where the novel COVID-19 disease pandemic began in a bid to stem any possible outbreak of the deadly virus in Wuhan for a second time.

This came after China’s National Health Commission confirmed seven new cases of COVID-19, six of them in the northeastern province of Jilin where the city of Shulan increased its risk level from medium to high at the weekend.

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The new cases were found in Jilin, the province’s second-biggest city, with five of them linked to an earlier case in Shulan. The city of Jilin has temporarily suspended train services as a result of the outbreak.

Meanwhile, the United States (US) government’s top infectious disease expert, issued a blunt warning that cities and states could see more COVID-19 deaths and economic damage if they lift stay-at-home orders too quickly — a sharp contrast to President Donald Trump, who is pushing to right a free-falling economy.

“There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control,” Dr. Anthony Fauci warned a Senate committee and the nation Tuesday as more than two dozen states have begun to lift their lockdowns.

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