It took only 39 new coronavirus cases for health authorities in China to detain nearly 11 million people in Shijiazhuang city, NBC News reports.
Health officials took no chances on Wednesday by shutting down the capital of Hebei’s industrial province and ordering a massive test drive.
Travel restrictions were introduced in the rest of the region, which surrounds the Chinese capital Beijing and is home to approximately 76 million people.
Mayor Ma Yujun told a news conference on Saturday that it had taken just three days to complete the first round of mass testing in Shijiazhuang, with 354 people found positive for the virus. A second round of testing will begin soon, he added.
Yan Xixin, director of intensive care at Hebei Medical University Second Hospital, said at the same press conference, “The risk of more infections is still there.”
This tough and swift approach is being repeated elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region to ward off coronavirus flare-ups – including in Japan, Thailand and Australia – making measures to curb the spread of the virus in Europe and the United States almost slow appear.
Read the full story at NBCNews.com