Seven infected locals found in Hebei capital Shijiazhuang

Shijiazhuang the capital of northenr China's Hebei province detected another seven coronavirus positive people after mass testing of residents started on Wednesday, Meng Xianghong, deputy mayor of Shijiazhuang, said on Wednesday night in the city's second press conference on prevention and control, China Daily reports.

Before this, the city had reported a total of 33 new local infections over four consecutive days since Sunday.

Gaocheng district of Shijiazhuang, has been declared a high risk area in the mainland.

Citywide testing for all 10.39 million residents started on Wednesday. As of 5:00 pm that day, 2 million samples had been collected and 600,000 tested, with seven returning positive for the new coronavirus.

Over 5,000 spots for nucleic acid sample collection are set up in communities and villages across the city.

The provincial health commission in Hebei has mobilized about 1,000 medical staff from other cities to Shijiazhuang as of Wednesday to support its fight against the outbreak, Zhang Dongsheng, deputy head of the Shijiazhuang Health Commission, said.

He added another 2, 000 medical staff will arrive in the city on Thursday.

Producers of protective suits and masks in Shijiazhuang have increased their daily output to support the fight. The daily output of face masks has been increased from 800,000 to 4 million and 60,000 protective suits can be produced each day, the conference disclosed.

Nangong in Xingtai, Hebei, which also has reported confirmed local infections, has finished collecting samples of its 362,819 permanent residents for mass testing. Other parts of Xingtai started mass testing of all residents on Wednesday, and is expected to finish in three days.