Tianjin's Binhai area finds no virus in 2nd round

The second round of large-scale coronavirus tests in Tianjin's Binhai New Area was completed on Monday evening, with all the 493,745 samples coming back negative.

Since Friday, the area has collected samples from people likely to be infected since the coronavirus outbreak there on Nov 8.

The samples included people working in the frozen food and imported goods sectors; close contacts with people entering the area from overseas and other regions; the neighbors of all the above; people in the logistics and express delivery sectors; those in the taxi and bus transportation sectors; medical workers and cleaning staff in hospitals; and all staff members at schools and kindergartens in the area.

Last week, to prevent wider spread, the area completed the first round of tests of 2.46 million residents and the commuting population. All tests came back negative.

The area has reported eight confirmed cases since Nov 8 among logistics workers handling imported and frozen food, their close contacts and their community neighbors.

To date, two have recovered and were allowed to leave the hospital.