Beijing — China's 56-day coronavirus clean streak has been broken. Six people with symptoms and another six without any have tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 in one city, prompting a dramatic response.
All of the cases are linked to a single hospital, the Qingdao Chest Hospital, in the city of Qingdao on China's eastern coast. The city's health commission posted the news to Chinese social media site Weibo, and the hospital, about 250 miles southeast of Beijing, has been closed.
Qingdao is home to about 9 million people, more than New York City and twice as many as Los Angeles, and authorities are now in the process of testing every single one of them. They're determined to finish that process by the end of this week — a remarkable feat, but not unexpected in China.
Medical workers in protective suits collect swabs for nucleic acid tests during city-wide testing following new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Qingdao, Shandong province, China, October 12, 2020.
cnsphoto/STRINGER/REUTERS
Photos and video making the rounds on both social and state-run media show citizens lining up to be tested.
Officials in Wuhan, which has a slightly larger population, said all of its citizens were tested in just 10 days earlier this year, when it tackled a resurgence of the virus.
For many, the news of new cases, even after almost two months without any, may come as little surprise. The entire country recently came back to work after an 8-day national holiday that saw millions of Chinese on the move.
It was the first major holiday since the coronavirus pandemic was brought under control here. Some 637 million trips were made over the National Day break. To put that in perspective, it's almost equivalent to every single American doing two trips in the same time frame.
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People bought out plane and train tickets and jammed highways to release pent-up frustration after being stuck at home for most of this year.
In the grand scheme of things the new cases in Qingdao are a small blip in China's officially reported coronavirus numbers. The World Health Organization, which relies on data provided by the Chinese government, has recorded just over 91,000 COVID-19 infections in China, and fewer than 5,000 deaths.
Critics say China's reported numbers are too low — likely a fair criticism in a country known to cover up bad news.