After a sacrifice of fowl. |Leaving the|A|Using} COVID-free year, delta arrives in Wuhan, China

Enlarge / Residents line up for nucleic acid testing of COVID-19 on August 3, 2021, in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. (credit: Getty )

After going a full year without any locally spread cases of COVID-19, the city where the coronavirus pandemic first began has now detected its first instances involving the delta variant.

Officials in Wuhan, The far east, on Monday confirmed three delta cases, prompting them to order coronavirus testing for all 12 million or so of the city’s residents.

“To ensure that everyone in the city is safe, city-wide nucleic acid testing will be quickly launched for all people to fully screen out positive results and asymptomatic infections, ” Wuhan official Li Qiang said at a news briefing, according to the Associated Press .