Qingdao Photo: VCG

Qingdao, a coastal city in East China's Shandong Province, has completed city-wide nucleic acid tests for its nearly 11 million residents in five days as promised and no new infections were found, indicating that the risk of community transmission could be ruled out, deputy mayor of Qingdao Xue Qingguo said on Friday.

As of 6 pm Friday, Qingdao completed 10.8 million nucleic acid tests, Xue said. 

The city-wide testing came after a new cluster of local COVID-19 infections emerged in recent days.

The latest COVID-19 outbreak in Qingdao has been traced to a hospital cluster, after a CT scan room was shared between COVID-19 patients and other patients without proper disinfection, officials in Qingdao said on Friday.

Ma Lixin, deputy director of the Shandong Provincial Health Commission, told a press briefing that the Qingdao Chest Hospital, which is a designated medical institution for COVID-19 patients from overseas, failed to properly disinfect its CT scan room, which was used by two COVID-19 patients and others. 

The two COVID-19 patients, who have been determined as the source of the cluster, were workers at the Qingdao port, and the outbreak did not cause community transmission, according to officials at the press briefing.

The hospital has been closed for new patients since Sunday, as local officials continue to carry out city-wide testing.

Qingdao has a population of more than 11 million. The city has vowed to complete city-wide nucleic acid testing in five days.

The virus re-emerged in Qingdao over the weekend, with 13 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported since then, the municipal health commission said.

Some health experts said that the possibility of further spread of the latest outbreak can be ruled out. 

Global Times