The Chinese city of Qingdao has said that it is planning to test its entire population of more than nine million people for Covid-19 in five days.

Health authorities on Monday, said that about a dozen new infections were detected over the weekend in the eastern coastal city and most of the new infections were linked to a hospital.

They added that more than 140,000 people, mainly working in the health sector, were tested immediately after the first positive cases emerged.

Recently, China has only recorded Covid-19 infections imported from abroad.

The country was able to bring the virus’ spread under control with tough measures such as locking down cities where millions live, following strict isolation and entry bans.