Beijing orders Covid tests for its 21 million people

Beijing on Tuesday ordered mass testing for its 21 million people after Monday's nucleic acid tests of 3.5 million residents revealed 32 positive cases, while the eastern metropolis of Shanghai has reported 52 more deaths, taking the toll during the current outbreak to 190, officials said.

The Chinese capital, which is battling the spread of the Omicron variant similar to Shanghai, has ordered mass testing from Tuesday in 11 of its districts, virtually covering all its 21 million population.

Beijing has reported 32 new local COVID-19 cases and one asymptomatic case after testing 3.5 million in the high-profile Chaoyang district on Monday, taking the total number of cases to 135 so far.

Beijing's local government has ordered Chaoyang district, home to some 3.5 million residents, to have three rounds of mass nucleic acid testing starting from Monday after the district registered the most COVID-19 cases in the capital's latest epidemic surge, official media reported.

The same tests will be repeated on Wednesday and Friday, officials said.

In all the Chinese mainland reported 1,908 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which 1,661 were in Shanghai, according to the National Health Commission's report released on Tuesday.

Shanghai also reported 15,319 locally transmitted asymptomatic infections of the novel coronavirus Monday, among a total of 15,816 local asymptomatic carriers newly identified on the mainland.

Apart from Shanghai, 17 other provincial-level regions on the mainland saw new local COVID-19 cases, including 91 in Jiangxi, 44 in Jilin, and 32 in Beijing, the report said.

As of Monday, 28,726 people who were confirmed to have COVID-19 are undergoing treatment in hospitals across the country.

Monday saw 52 deaths from COVID-19, all in Shanghai, taking the total during the current outbreak to 190.

The oldest among the deceased was 100 years old and their average age was 83.1.

All the 52 patients had serious underlying health conditions, the local health commission reported.

With this, China's overall death toll due to the coronavirus, ever since it had first emerged in the central city of Wuhan in December 2019, rose to 4,828.