China has tested more than a quarter of a million people for the coronavirus after a handful of new cases were detected in the southern city of Chengdu.
As of Tuesday 255,200 residents in the city had been swabbed for COVID-19 tests, the municipal health commission said, with six confirmed cases and one asymptomatic patient.
An elderly couple were diagnosed as confirmed cases on Monday, and authorities have been tracing their close contacts and testing food samples. Local health officials said the virus was detected on food stored in their fridge and on a chopping board in their flat.
Schools and kindergartens in the Pidu district where the cases emerged have closed, according to local authorities, with students and teachers to quarantine and be tested for the virus.
