Central China's Zhangjiajie launches 2nd round of all-inclusive nucleic acid testing

Medical workers take swab samples from residents for COVID-19 nucleic acid testing in Zhangjiajie, central China's Hunan Province, Aug. 4, 2021. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)

CHANGSHA, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Zhangjiajie, a popular tourist city in central China's Hunan Province, has launched the second round of all-inclusive nucleic acid testing to stem the new COVID-19 cluster infection.

The new round of mass testing covering all residents in the city is expected to be completed by 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to local authorities.

The first round of all-inclusive nucleic acid testing was completed at around 5 p.m. last Saturday with over 1.24 million samples collected.

Prior to that, the city had launched three rounds of large-scale testings in higher risk areas for COVID-19 after new infections emerged.

In the latest all-inclusive testing, one-on-one testing is carried out among people in the core high-risk areas, under centralized isolation, or those holding red health codes. Other areas will adopt a five-in-one or ten-in-one mixed testing approach.

Zhangjiajie reported 10 new locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday. Between July 29 and Sunday, a total of 47 locally transmitted confirmed cases been reported in the city.