(Yicai Global) June 2 -- Wuhan, the Chinese city that was hit hardest by the novel coronavirus outbreak, found no confirmed cases of people with the Covid-19 disease after testing 9.9 million residents.

The authorities did discover 300 asymptotic cases, meaning that the people had the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but were not showing symptoms. That’s a rate of 0.3 per 10,000 people.

Wuhan carried out mass nucleic acid testing from midnight on May 13 to midnight yesterday and tracked down 1,174 close contacts, all of whom tested negative, Lu Zuxun, chairman of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association Social Medicine Branch, said at a press conference in the city today. He also noted that all asymptomatic carriers and close contacts have been quarantined.

The tests cost about CNY900 million (USD126 million) in total, all paid for by the government, Hu Yabo, executive vice mayor of Wuhan, told the same press conference.

Wuhan, the capital of China’s central Hubei province, had 50,340 confirmed cases and 3,869 deaths, as of midnight on May 31, according to official data.

Editor: Peter Thomas