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Covid-hit Beijing sees 227 cases, experts say outbreaks possible in other cities
Beijing’s case load increased as a leading infectious disease expert warned that similar, smaller outbreaks could occur in other cities as well.
China on Sunday reported 25 new confirmed Covid-19 cases for June 20 including 22 in Beijing and three in neighbouring Hebei province.
Beijing’s case load increased as a leading infectious disease expert warned that similar, smaller outbreaks could occur in other cities as well.
Between June 11 and 20, Beijing had reported 227 confirmed domestically transmitted cases, all of whom were receiving treatment in hospitals, the Beijing municipal health commission said in a daily report on Sunday.
Meanwhile, there are 18 asymptomatic cases still under medical observation, and one imported case hospitalised in Beijing, the commission said.
Multinational PepsiCo suspended its operations in Beijing after confirmed Covid-19 cases were reported in the company, state media reported.
All of PepsiCo’s 87 close contacts of a confirmed case in Beijing have been quarantined, and samples taken inside and outside its Beijing plant have come out negative.
Officials have said around 2.3 million people have been tested in an effort to contain the outbreak in the capital that led to the closure of its biggest wholesale food market, Xinfadi, in the southwest district of Fengtai.
China, where the outbreak began in December, had eased controls on travel and business as new cases fell.
But monitoring and some other restrictions have been reimposed in some of the districts in Beijing where Covid-19 cases were detected.
Tourist spots continue to be closed in the city over the weekend.
The agency in charge of the Ming Tombs, a tourist site northwest of Beijing, said indoor areas will be closed as a safety precaution. Visitors are allowed in outdoor areas but are required to wear masks and be checked for fever
Beijing health authorities are still investigating the source of the infection with preliminary sequencing of virus samples indicating a European strain.
How it has spread, however, is still not clear.
Emergence of Beijing’s Covid-19 cases are not considered a second wave, but a sudden outbreak within a small area, which is currently controllable, Chinese infectious disease expert Zhang Wenhong has said.
A second wave, he explained, would have an obvious crest then descend after spreading for a while.
“We hope that the domestic epidemic situation can (pursue) a strategy of close to zero cases, rather than absolute zero cases,” Zhang told state media.
Zhang said he believes that the situation of “true zero cases” would be difficult to achieve in the current global epidemic situation.
In Zhang’s view, there may be similar situations in other cities in China in the future, and unexpected outbreaks or small-scale outbreaks may occur.
