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

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COVID-19: Worldwide death toll exceeds 250,000, as community leaders in Brazil beg WHO for help

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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