According to an official notice carried by the state media, the officials have been ordered to submit a plan by Tuesday noon to administer nucleic acid tests on all residents in the city of 11 million people. As news outlet reported, the plans should prioritize the testing of vulnerable groups and areas like residential compounds, the document is cited as saying.
"Each district should make plans and arrangements to conduct nucleic acid tests on the entire population in its jurisdiction within a 10-day time limit," the notice said, although it was unclear when testing would begin.
The contagious Coronavirus had first appeared the Chinese city Wuhan last year in December. The deadly virus took no time to spread across the globe following which, number of countries including United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, India resorted to complete lockdown to curb the spread of the infection.
China too announced a 76-day lockdown and uplifted the restrictions on April 8 after the curve of coronavirus cases decreased relevantly.
However, six new cases were reported on Sunday and Monday from a residential compound in Dongxihu District. Following this, Wuhan planned to test the population of 11 million residents.
But, an official from the Dongxihu District epidemic prevention and control commanding office told AFP that they have "not yet received news about this notice".
Commenting on the same, Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state broadcaster CCTV it was "not necessary" for every person in Wuhan to be tested.