Hainan starts mass testing to curb virus

Hainan began conducting nucleic acid tests for all people in the tropical island province on Sunday to curb its latest COVID-19 outbreak, which has spilled over into 10 cities and counties across the island, said local officials at a news conference held in Haikou on Sunday afternoon.

With the first confirmed new case of COVID-19 detected in Sanya on Aug 1, from there the outbreak has spread across Hainan. The total confirmed locally transmitted cases and asymptomatic carriers had reached 827 and 313 respectively as of midday on Sunday, according to the Hainan Provincial Health Commission.

The outbreak is rapidly developing in communities and newly infected cases are increasingly found among people already placed in closed-loop management. So far there are no severe or critical cases while the symptoms of those infected are only mild, officials said at the news conference.