People wait to take COVID-19 test at a square in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Oct. 14, 2020. Over 8.8 million people had been sampled for nucleic acid testing by 6:00 p.m. Wednesday in east China's Qingdao City, after it began a city-wide testing campaign on Monday, according to local authorities. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)

Qingdao in East China's Shandong Province has so far collected 10.94 million nucleic acid samples during its citywide testing campaign for all 11 million residents, which the city has vowed to complete by Friday.  

Results have been produced from a total of 8.84 million samples of those collected. No new positive samples have been found since the cases already reported, the city authorities said at a press conference on Thursday. 

The city's rapidity in completing the five-day citywide testing launched on Monday has attracted attention from the media in other countries at a time when a second wave of the pandemic is creeping up around the world.  

Qingdao authorities revealed that the implementation of the mass testing in the city has been supported by medical forces from cities both in and outside the province. 

Seven medical teams with 210 personnel and 28 sets of nucleic acid testing equipment and 56,000 kits have been sent to Qingdao to help with the local testing work. 

More than 1,000 nucleic acid sampling teams from other cities in Shandong have provided sample collection support for the city. 

Meanwhile, Longnan city in Northwest China's Gansu Province has also sent 50 medical workers to aid Qingdao. 

A Qingdao resident who lives in Shinan District, surnamed Zhang, told the Global Times on Thursday that she took the test at 8am on Wednesday at a testing point in her residential community and there were around 50 people already waiting in line for testing. 

She said she is proud of how the city has been responding to the outbreak with a fast speed and serious manner. 

The city has fired a top official of the Qingdao Health Commission, and the head of the Qingdao Chest Hospital, where the latest COVID-19 outbreak occurred, on Thursday. 

Qingdao reported one new COVID-19 case, as an asymptomatic patient diagnosed on September 24 showed symptoms, according to the Qingdao Health Commission. 

As of Thursday, a total of 78 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the city since the disease was first reported, 64 of whom have been cured and discharged, and one has died. Thirteen cases are undergoing isolation treatment in designated hospitals.