After remaining the epicentre of Coronavirus global pandemic for a long time, Wuhan plans to conduct COVID-19  tests on the Chinese city’s entire population after new cases emerged for the first time in weeks, as city administration managed to curb the virus for some time, state media reported on Tuesday.

According to a notice carried out by news outlets, officials had been ordered to submit by noon on Tuesday plans to administer nucleic acid tests on all residents in the city of 11 million people.

Although there is no clarity on when the testing would begin, notice said, “Each district should make plans and arrangements to conduct nucleic acid tests on the entire population in its jurisdiction within a 10-day time limit.”

Planning for these coronavirus testings comes after Wuhan reported the first cluster of new COVID-19 infections since the city re-opened after a 76-day lockdown on April 8.

Six new cases were reported on Sunday and Monday from a residential compound in Dongxihu District.

They have “not yet received news about this notice,” an official from the Dongxihu District epidemic prevention and control commanding office was quoted by news agency AFP as saying.

China has largely brought the virus under control, but it has been on edge about being hit by a second wave as it has lifted lockdowns and restrictions across the country.

Virus clusters have appeared recent weeks in the northeastern provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang, which border Russia. With the virus taking hold in other nations, China has barred most foreigners from entering the country.

Wuhan has reported 3,869 deaths since the novel coronavirus first emerged there in December, accounting for most fatalities in the country, while the Mainland China reported 82,919 positive cases of COVID-19 with 4,633 deaths.

Scientists believe the virus jumped from animals to humans at a market that sold wildlife in the city.

Following US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s claims that the coronavirus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China on May 6 dismissed his statement saying he “doesn’t have any” evidence. US and China continue to clash repeatedly over the origins of the virus, which emerged in China late last year but has since escalated into a global pandemic.

Conspiracy theories that the virus came from a maximum-security virology lab in Wuhan have swirled since earlier this year, but were brought into the mainstream last month by US government officials. Pompeo said on Sunday that there was “enormous evidence” to show that the new coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab.

I think this matter should be handed to scientists and medical professionals, and not politicians who lie for their own domestic political ends,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a regular press briefing.

Meanwhile, an intelligence report by US Department of Homeland Security, obtained by news agency AP, claims China covered up the extent of the coronavirus outbreak and how contagious the disease is to stock up on medical supplies needed to respond to it. Chinese leaders intentionally concealed the severity of the pandemic from the world in early January, according to a four-page report dated May 1.