BEIJING — Authorities have ordered mass virus testing for residents in two cities in the central province of Anhui, where the first new cases of local transmission in days have been detected.

It was not immediately clear how many people will be tested but the number is likely to be in tens or hundreds of thousands in the provincial capital Hefei alone.

Quick, inexpensive testing kits have made testing in China exceptionally convenient, with results generally available on the spot within minutes.

China says it has all-but eliminated domestic transmission of the virus.

The new cases reported bring China’s total number of cases to 90,815 with 4,636 deaths since the virus was detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.