These measures were introduced after a city in central China reported three cases of domestic transmission on August 2, the first local infection in more than a year.
Wuhan has made the world see lockdown and large-scale testing for the first time. Since mid-May last year, no local coronavirus cases have been reported.
China is currently experiencing one of the worst outbreaks in months, with 300 cases detected within 10 days.
Wuhan City official Li Qiang said at a press conference: “To ensure the safety of everyone in the city, the city will quickly carry out nucleic acid testing to fully screen positive and asymptomatic infections.”
Officials said that the outbreak is believed to have started in Nanjing, the provincial capital, and the Delta variant was most likely introduced on a flight from Russia.
Since then, many cities in southern China and some cities in the north, including Beijing, have reported infections. Since the first Nanjing infection was discovered on July 20, the number of locally transmitted cases in China was 414 as of Monday.
The delta variant brings new risks to the world’s second largest economy as it spreads from coastal cities to inland cities. Authorities in many cities have launched large-scale tests to identify and isolate carriers.
According to the National Health Commission (NHC), China reported 90 new confirmed cases on Tuesday, compared with 98 on Sunday.
As of August 2, there were 93,193 confirmed cases in Mainland China and 4,636 deaths.
Additional report by Reuters.
