NHC official calls for expansion of nucleic acid testing in China's Dalian

Director of China's National Health Commission (NHC) Ma Xiaowei said on Saturday that the city of Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province should conduct widescale nucleic acid testing for COVID-19 and hopes full coverage can be achieved in four days.

Dalian reported the first domestic case in the current local cluster on July 22 after over 110 days of zero new local infections. 

Ma, who leads a NHC group guiding epidemic control work in Dalian City, stressed a race against time was underway to curb the outbreak.

The city announced that it would be entering "wartime" mode earlier this week in the wake of the new cluster, which is linked to a local seafood processing company.