China Conducts COVID-19 Mass Testing for 15 Million Tianjin Residents

In Xi'an, Shanxi Province in northwest China, where the entire city has been locked down due to a COVID-19 cluster infection, residents lined up in front of a mobile testing station on the 2nd to undergo COVID-19 nucleic acid testing. Xi'an, which has been under lockdown since the 23rd of last month, continues to see a spread of the virus, with daily confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeding 100 for eleven consecutive days. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seung-jin] With the Beijing Winter Olympics scheduled for next month, China has launched mass testing after a COVID-19 outbreak occurred in Tianjin, located 140 km from Beijing.

According to Xinhua News Agency on the 9th, Tianjin's epidemic prevention authorities announced that as of 9 PM the previous day, 20 new confirmed cases had been reported.

The authorities have locked down 29 residential complexes in the Tianjin area and started mass COVID-19 testing targeting 15 million citizens from the morning of the same day. They also urged local residents not to leave Tianjin unless absolutely necessary.

Tianjin city also canceled the teacher qualification exam scheduled for that day.

China implements a strict "Zero COVID" policy, which involves locking down affected areas and conducting polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests on all residents to identify hidden infections whenever confirmed cases occur.

Meanwhile, Chinese epidemic prevention authorities are on high alert as confirmed cases have simultaneously emerged in multiple regions. The previous day, 95 new domestic COVID-19 cases were reported across 31 provinces nationwide. In Henan Province, 24 cases were confirmed in the capital Zhengzhou and 18 in Xuchang.

Although the number of confirmed cases is not large compared to the global spread, considering China's ultra-strict "Zero COVID" policy, this is analyzed as a significant figure.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.