Beijing’s Entire Population is Being Tested for COVID-19
24 million people — half a million tests a day
China has taken a radical step forward in ensuring the new wave of Coronavirus infections doesn’t spread as fast or wide as the first wave.
On June 9th, Beijing officials declared that the city was free and clear of the coronavirus. Only one day later, a Beijing citizen was admitted to hospital with symptoms of the virus, breaking the city’s 56 day streak of no new infections according to The Guardian.
Since that day, the city has seen a wave of newly infected people, causing the government to take far stronger efforts to try and stop the virus from reaching the heights that it did only a few months ago.
On June 20th, The Deputy Leader of Infectious Disease Outbreak and Control for Beijing Zhang Qiang declared that Beijing would test every single citizen, rolling out half a million tests a day.
Testing centres have been given the staff and equipment to more than double their capacity for daily tests so that the city is able to match the target set by government officials.
