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Thursday, October 15, 2020, 15:39
Nearly 10m in Qingdao sampled, health official suspended
By China Daily & Xinhua
Thursday, October 15, 2020, 15:39 By China Daily & Xinhua

Health workers on duty at a coronavirus testing station in Shibei district of Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, Oct 14, 2020. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

QINGDAO - More than 9.9 million samples have been collected by Thursday for coronavirus testing in Qingdao, while a health official was suspended after a new cluster of local infections emerged.

Sui Zhenhua, director of the Qingdao municipal health commission, was suspended following new cases of COVID-19 in the port city of east China's Shandong province.

The Qingdao municipal committee of the Communist Party of China made the decision Wednesday. 

Qingdao has reported 13 confirmed cases by Wednesday. Four patients are in serious condition, Chen Wansheng, deputy director of the general office of the city government, said

Deng Kai, president of the Qingdao Chest Hospital, was removed from his post and placed under investigation, according to a decision made by the local health commission on Thursday.

The city has reported 13 confirmed cases by Wednesday. Most of the new cases are linked to the hospital.  

Four patients are in serious condition, Chen Wansheng, deputy director of the general office of the city government, said on Wednesday.

ALSO READ: 1 local case in Qingdao among 11 new infections on mainland

As of 8 am Thursday, more than 9.94 million people had been sampled, and more than 7.64 million of the collected samples had been tested. There were no additional positive cases other than those cases that had been reported, the local health authorities said.

The city has vowed to complete a citywide nucleic acid testing campaign covering all 11 million residents within five days starting from Monday, after a new cluster of local infections emerged.

Sample collection work from the city's five urban districts was expected to be completed by the end of Wednesday.

During a work meeting on Tuesday evening, Qingdao Party Chief Wang Qingxian called for the whole city to maintain a "state of war" spirit to fight the virus.

Experts said that the epidemic in Qingdao, which re-emerged over the weekend, will not likely develop into a large-scale outbreak.

"The mass nucleic acid testing effort is playing a crucial role in helping us learn how the epidemic evolves," said Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, during an interview with China Central Television on Tuesday evening.

More accumulated information in the Qingdao case has shown that the latest epidemic originated in hospital and is unlikely to develop quickly like those in Beijing's Xinfadi market in June and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in July, said Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

More accumulated information in the Qingdao case has shown that the latest epidemic originated in hospital and is unlikely to develop quickly like those in Beijing's Xinfadi market in June and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in July, Wu said.

READ MORE: Qingdao reports no spread of COVID-19 outbreak

Wu mentioned one of the confirmed cases-a taxi driver who has drawn wide attention. He was asymptomatic at first and became a confirmed case on Tuesday.

According to Wu, a patient is expected to be infectious for one or two days before displaying symptoms, and for five days after that. The taxi driver was isolated in time, and he is not believed to be very infectious, Wu said.

The Beijing government suggested on Wednesday that people from Qingdao not come to the capital if it's not necessary, and those who have to come need to show a negative nucleic acid test result from the previous seven days.

Xu Hejian, spokesman for the Beijing government, said at a news conference on Wednesday that people who came to the capital from Qingdao should follow related community epidemic prevention and control measures after arrival, such as providing regular health condition reports.

Gao Xiaojun, spokesman for the capital's health authority, said Beijing had traced five close contacts of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in Qingdao by Tuesday, and the test results for all five were negative.


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