(Yicai Global) Oct. 13 -- The coastal city of Qingdao in East China’s Shandong province had already conducted nucleic acid tests on 3.1 million of its roughly 9.5 million residents as of 8.00 a.m. today and, aside from the six confirmed cases and six asymptomatic infections previously identified, no new infections have been found among the 1.1 million test results thus far available, data the province’s health commission released today on its official WeChat account show.

The bustling port city home to appliance maker Haier Group and Tsingtao Beer resolved on the ambitious step of testing all locals following the emergence of a Covid-19 cluster just after China’s eight-day National Day holiday drew hordes of travelers to its scenic seaside setting.

Other cities in Shandong have scrambled to trace those who have left Qingdao since Sept. 23. Up to 225,000 such people tracked down had also undergone testing as of 8.00 a.m. today, with none coming back positive.

Two asymptomatic patients turned up positive in tests, Qingdao Chest Hospital found in routine nucleic acid tests it performed on general patients on Oct. 11. The other was detected during a screening of close contacts of the two patients.

Qingdao's Health Commission officially announced at 6.42 a.m. yesterday the daunting scheme to test all of the city's residents within five ensuing days. This follows the example of former pandemic epicenter Wuhan, which tested nearly everyone over the age of five in the city of 11 million people, Aljazeera reported in June, citing China’s National Health Commission.

Editor: Ben Armour