Los Angeles offers free coronavirus testing

Los Angeles became the first city in the US to offer coronavirus testing for anyone regardless of whether they have symptoms, Mayor Eric Garcetti said at a press conference on Wednesday.

But those with symptoms will have the first priority, he added, according to foreign media.

Los Angeles has the capacity to conduct roughly 9% of all tests in America, Garcetti told reporters.

Los Angeles has reported 22,485 confirmed cases and 1,056 deaths so far. The US has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, confirming 1,040,000 infections and 61,000 fatalities.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) emerged in late 2019 in China’s Hubei province, and the virus has spread to 210 countries and territories since then.

To date, COVID-19 cases surpassed 3,232,000 globally, resulting in more than 1,007,000 recoveries and over 228,000 deaths.

On February 11, the WHO officially named the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) as COVID-19, and on March 11, declared it a pandemic.