QINGDAO in East China’s Shandong Province had collected over 4.23 million samples, about half of the city’s population, for a city-wide nucleic acid testing effort as of yesterday afternoon, the local health authority said at a press conference.

With more than 1.94 million samples tested, no new positive cases have been found except the confirmed and asymptomatic cases already reported.

Over the weekend, the city reported 12 new locally transmitted infections, six confirmed and six asymptomatic cases. Among them, three are severe cases, according to a local official.

Epidemiological investigations discovered that the cases were linked to the Qingdao Chest Hospital used for treating imported COVID-19 patients.

The city-wide nucleic acid testing, involving about nine million residents in the city, started Monday and is scheduled to conclude Friday, according to a notice issued by the municipal health commission, adding that the results will be released in a timely manner.

Hong Kong’s Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported eight additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the total number of cases to 5,201 in Hong Kong.

Among the newly reported cases, four had a travel history during the incubation period, two are epidemiologically linked with local cases while two are local cases with unknown sources, the CHP said.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government announced yesterday that the existing social distancing measures due to expire tomorrow, including mandatory mask-wearing in public places, group gatherings of no more than four persons, will be extended for another seven days. 

(Xinhua)