China has launched a new massive screening campaign in the northwest of the country where 137 cases of coronavirus infection have been detected.
The tests, which began on Saturday evening, affect 4.75 million people in and around Kashgar, in Xinjiang province, after a young worker at a textile factory tested positive.
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China, where the coronavirus was officially reported for the first time at the end of December before spreading around the world, has largely succeeded in containing the epidemic on its territory with a lot of tests, containment measures and restrictions of circulation but local outbreaks have emerged sporadically.
The new cases, all asymptomatic, are linked to a factory in Shufu County where the girl and her parents work, the Xinjiang Health Commission said at a press briefing.
As of Sunday evening, more than 2.8 million samples had already been collected in the affected region and the rest of the tests could be carried out in the next two days, the municipality said.
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Kashgar - near the borders with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan - is a city in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Many Uyghurs complain of political and religious persecution by Chinese authorities, which Beijing has consistently denied.
