Staff members work in a laboratory in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 13, 2020. As a designated service provider of nucleic acid detection of the novel coronavirus, KingMed Diagnostics laboratory in Wuhan conducts non-stop detection service and detects over 2,000 samples from various cities in Hubei Province every day. (Xinhua/Xiong Qi/IANS)

Wuhan districts began rolling out plans for city-wide testing after the release of a recent notice, with some prioritizing groups of high-risk people and others launching screening of all residents and kicking off district-wide registration. 

According to a document sent from the health commission of Wuchang district to the Global Times, the testing period will last from Wednesday to May 20. Health authorities in Wuchang district noted they plan to finish all the testing by the end of Sunday. The period from next Monday to Wednesday will be used to find anyone who was missed in the testing process.

All the sub-districts must submit statistical forms by the end of 8 o'clock Tuesday night, read the document. The health status forms cover content including the personal information of residents, personal ID, phone numbers, address, whether they have tested before and if they belong to a "key cluster."

Wuhan health authorities announced on Tuesday that all Wuhan residents will be targeted for the large-scale testing. In their document, Wuchang health authorities said that key clusters must be "100 percent" covered. 

The category of key clusters includes COVID-19 patients, silent carriers, suspected cases, patients with fever, and all close contacts of the above. 

In addition, the category also listed school staff, doctors and medical workers, transportation service personnel such as taxi and bus drivers, employees in public places, such as supermarkets, all volunteers and community workers, Party and government employees, and people inside and outside Wuhan. 

Priority for testing will be given to key groups and older communities with dense and fluid populations. The fluid population will also be included in the testing. 

Wuchang health authorities said they have set up both indoor and outdoor sites for testing which are frequently disinfected, and are asking each community to keep organized and avoid gatherings, with different time slots for testing. 

According to the schedule, groups made up of seven testing personnel will be assigned to 4,000-5,000 residents. 

A Wuhan-based doctor Zheng Shuqian told the Global Times on Wednesday that Qingshan district has started collecting information while Hongshan district has already begun testing.

Yang Zhanqiu, deputy director of the pathogen biology department at Wuhan University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that based on what he knows, companies and schools will pay the bill of testing, which costs about 200 yuan ($28.2) per person. 

Yang, taking himself and colleague as examples, said those who were tested in late April and proved healthy are very likely not asked to undergo the test again. As a Wuchang resident, he has not been asked to have tested so far.

A Wuhan community in Dongxihu district that saw six new COVID-19 cases has enforced closed management. Since Tuesday, about 70,000 people, including neighborhood residents, have had nucleic acid tests, local media reported. 

Wuchang district has a permanent population of 1.28 million, the second most populated district after Hongshan district.