China has tested 10 million people to detect new Coronavirus infections within two weeks in Wuhan, the city where the virus first appeared, officials said yesterday, and reported only 300 infections.
The Chinese authorities say they are largely in control of the virus, but officials in Wuhan - fearful of a second wave - launched the screening program after new infections appeared for the first time after the city was reopened last April, after more than two months' closure.
The city has a population of 11 million, and tests were conducted between May 14 and June 1, officials said at a press conference.
The officials said the results revealed 300 positive cases of patients who did not have any symptoms.
"These figures show that Wuhan is now the safest city," said Feng Sejian, deputy director of the Chinese National Center for Epidemic Control and Prevention.
Citizens lined up around the city in front of points erected under tents, in parking lots, parks, and apartment blocks to provide DNA samples, while about half a million tests were done daily during that period.
China does not count cases of asymptomatic infections in the outcome of confirmed infections, and the results have not shown transmission of infection from asymptomatic patients to others, according to a public health expert from the Huagong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Lu Xuchun.
The city authorities monitored a limited number of asymptomatic injuries on most days of the screening campaign, which were initially described as a "decisive battle" for ten days, but they did not report any symptoms without symptoms for the first time yesterday.
According to official figures in China, which is 1.4 billion people, the death of 4,634 people, the majority of them in Wuhan, which is a much lower figure than in other countries in terms of population density.