TIANJIN, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Five new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases were confirmed in north China's Tianjin Municipality on Friday, local authorities said Saturday.
Four of them were reported early Friday from the Kanhaixuan residential community in Tianjin, after an asymptomatic carrier was found in the community, according to the city's center for disease control and prevention.
The community was classified as a high-risk area for COVID-19 starting from 2 a.m. Friday.
The other case, a 52-year-old man, is a close contact of the personnel exposed to a cold storage facility in Dongli District, where the fish tested positive for the virus.
The man surnamed Yang was diagnosed later Friday as the 145th locally-transmitted confirmed case when he was being quarantined in a hotel in the Binhai New Area.
Authorities started conducting nucleic acid tests for all residents in the Binhai New Area on Saturday morning, which will take two to three days.
By 6 p.m. Saturday, authorities had conducted the tests on more than 1 million people in the Binhai New Area. About 1.6 million more people in the area are expected to be tested, said Liang Chunzao, deputy head of the Binhai New Area.
So far, more than 7,400 medical personnel and over 6,000 community staff and volunteers are helping with the tests. Enditem
