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Reuters
Reuters
Health

Chinese city orders COVID tests for visitors to sprawling commercial centre

People line up at a makeshift nucleic acid testing site near a residential compound under lockdown following local cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China November 3, 2021. Picture taken November 3, 2021. cnsphoto via REUTERS

China's southwestern city of Chengdu on Monday required visitors at a mega entertainment centre to undergo COVID tests, in the country's second mass screening for the coronavirus at a large venue in days.

Those who were tested for COVID-19 were required to return home to await their results and not venture outdoors until advised, local authorities in Chengdu said in a notice.

It was unclear how many visitors were at the New Century Global Center, which houses numerous shops, offices, a massive water park, and a university. At 1.7 million square metres, the building is the world's largest, spanning a floor area the equivalent of four Vatican Cities.

Early in November, Shanghai Disneyland was shut for two days and more than 30,000 visitors tested, after a visitor to the theme park was found to be carrying the virus.

China has maintained a zero-tolerance policy towards COVID-19, determined that the cost of limiting local cases as they are found outweighs the inconvenience and disruptions caused by efforts to trace, isolate and treat the infected.

Chengdu, a city of more than 20 million people, has found a few local cases of COVID-19 in recent days.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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