SHIJIAZHUANG — Shijiazhuang, a megacity in North China's Hebei province, has completed three rounds of citywide nucleic acid testing in 17 days to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

A total of 10.26 million samples were collected during the latest round between Jan 20 and 22, and 30 tested positive for COVID-19, said Meng Xianghong, vice-mayor of Shijiazhuang, at a press briefing late on Jan 22. 

Since the new cluster infections were spotted in early January, Shijiazhuang has taken a swift response to contain the epidemic spread and over 30 million samples had been collected and tested from Jan 6 to 22 to best detect the cunning virus.

"All-staff nucleic acid testing is a fast and effective method to screen the virus out, especially in the early detection of asymptomatic infected persons," said Shi Jian with the provincial center for disease prevention and control.

Shi added that currently the vast majority of confirmed and asymptomatic infections in the city were all discovered during timely mass testing.

Shijiazhuang has seen over 800 confirmed COVID-19 cases since January, accounting for the bulk of the province's tally.