THE city of Qingdao in East China’s Shandong Province has activated a plan to conduct city-wide nucleic acid testing for COVID-19 after new cases were reported.

Qingdao has reported six new confirmed cases and the same number of new asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 since fresh infections emerged in the city over the weekend, the municipal health commission said early yesterday.

Epidemiological investigations found that the cases were linked with the Qingdao Chest Hospital, which had been used to treat imported COVID-19 patients.

The city will complete nucleic acid testing in five districts within the next three days, while the testing will cover the whole city in five days, according to a notice issued by the municipal health commission, adding that the results will be released in a timely manner.

Starting 7 a.m. yesterday, the residents of a community in the city’s Shinan District began to line up at a testing point to receive nucleic acid testing. They were notified to undergo the testing Sunday evening.

“It took about 20 minutes to wait before getting the testing. It’s a responsible move to conduct tests for ourselves and for others, too,” said a local resident surnamed Wang.

The National Health Commission yesterday sent a working group to Qingdao to guide COVID-19 epidemic control.

The 2020 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) International Investment and Trade Expo has been postponed after Qingdao, the host city for the 2020 SCO Expo, reported new infections.

The event was originally scheduled to take place from Friday to Sunday.

(Xinhua)