Wuhan, the epicentre of coronavirus, has decided to test the city’s entire 11 million population in the wake of new cases coming to light. Weeks after the lockdown was lifted in the city, several cases have emerged in recent days, prompting the administration to undertake the decision to mass test.

AS per a PTI report, a 10-day plan to test all its residents has been prepared after six new coronavirus cases were reported in a residential community, official media reported on Tuesday.

On April 8, relaxations were allowed in Hubei province and its capital Wuhan. The cites were in prolonged prolonged lockdown clamped on January 23 as the disease spread through the region like wildfire.

In all 4,512 people, including 3,869 in Wuhan, have died due to the COVID-19 in over three months of devastation caused by the vicious virus.

Hubei province had reported 68,134 confirmed COVID-19 cases in total, including 50,339 in Wuhan.

Peng Zhiyong, director of the intensive care unit of the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, told the state-run Global Times that he has not received the details of the testing plan.

He said testing everyone would be costly, so the testing is very likely to focus on key groups and communities such as close contacts of patients and their family members, medical staff, the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions.

Yang Zhanqiu, deputy director of the pathogen biology department at the Wuhan University, expanded the scale of its testing in April and tested targeted groups of people.

“About three to five million residents have been tested and proved healthy, and thus Wuhan is capable of testing the remaining 6 to 8 million in 10 days.”

Yang believes the city-wide test may be unnecessary as “you’ll never know if people were infected after testing negative.”

So “It’s essentially an epidemiological investigation to determine the current situation.”

Wu Zunyou, an epidemiologist from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that large-scale screening and testing is unnecessary. Wu told state television CCTV that he believes the main battlefields are in key communities and certain groups of people.

Wang Zhonglin, the head of the ruling Communist Party unit in Wuhan, said learning from recent new cases will prevent a rebound and is the best way to ensure people’s health and safety.

Globally, the death toll due to COVID-19 has gone up to 287,158 with over four million infections reported so far. The US is the worst affected country, according to Johns Hopkins University tally.

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