China launches mass COVID-19 testing, gets entire city tested

China's Guangdong province reported one new locally-transmitted confirmed COVID-19 case, the National Health Commission said on Monday. The case was reported in the city of Dongguan, Xinhua news agency quoted the Commission as saying.

Following which Dongguan launched mass testing on Monday for the coronavirus and cordoned off communities after detecting its first infections. City authorities told residents not to leave, except for essential reasons.

Guangdong on Sunday also reported six imported confirmed cases and 11 asymptomatic carriers who had come from abroad.

The province has so far reported a total of 2,699 confirmed Covid cases, including 1,135 imported ones.

Currently, 230 patients are being treated in hospitals, said the Commission.

The latest Covid resurgence in the southern manufacturing heartland of Guangdong started in May, with most cases reported in cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Foshan.

Since the pandemic originated in Wuhan city of Hubei province in December 2019, China has so far reported 91,604 confirmed coronavirus cases and 4,636 deaths.

(With agency inputs)