Beijing shuts down largest wholesale market after six new Covid-19 cases reported
The Hindu- Business Line
13 June 2020
Beijing has shut down several markets, including the largest Xinfadi
wholesale food market, and locked down 11 residential communities near
it after six new domestically-transmitted coronavirus cases were
reported, taking the tally to nine in the capital city in the last three
days, while 12 new infections were registered in other parts of China.Officials in Beijing found the coronavirus on a chopping board of imported salmon at the Xinfadi market. China’s National Health Commission, (NHC) said on Saturday that out of
the 18 new coronavirus cases, 11 were confirmed cases reported in the
country on Friday, including six domestically-transmitted infections in
Beijing. Also on Friday, seven new asymptomatic cases were reported, taking the total number of such people in quarantine to 98, it said.
Everybody, including customers and meat dealers have undergone
nucleic acid tests. In total, six major wholesale markets in Beijing
suspended, or partially suspended, operations on Friday, the Global
Times report said.Following the emergence
of virus in the market, nine related people have been put into
quarantine even though their test results were negative, Zhang Yuxi,
head of the Xinfadi market, told the Beijing News on Friday.
According
to a report in AP, 11 residential communities near Xinfadi market have
been placed under lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus. It
also quoted Beijing officials saying that 45 workers at the market have
tested positive for the virus but showed no symptoms.State-run
Xinhua news agency said the Xinfadi market has a total area of 112
hectares, some 1,500 management personnel and more than 4,000 tenants.
The sudden spike in cases in Beijing caused an alarm among the
officials as the city which was well protected from the rest of the
country has not reported new cases for about two months. The new cases raised concerns of a possible resurgence of the coronavirus in the Chinese capital city. Local officials have been asked to maintain wartime status to
resolutely eliminate the possibility of a second outbreak, Cai Qi,
ruling Communist Party secretary of the city, said. Chinese
health experts believe sporadic cases are normal as the epidemic has not
ended, but a resurgence is unlikely as the capital’s 20 million
residents are deeply aware of precautions, state-run Global Times
reported.
The two cases reported on Friday are colleagues from a
meat research centre in Beijing’s Fengtai District, and they are
receiving treatment at a designated hospital. One patient,
surnamed Liu, had travelled to Qingdao, East China’s Shandong Province
for five days, while the other had no recent travel history, a Fengtai
District official said at a press conference on Friday.
Beijing
immediately shut down the beef and lamb trade centre of wholesaler
Xinfadi Market and Jingshen seafood market in Fengtai District where
Tang, who was tested for coronavirus on Thursday had visited. Beijing will strengthen Covid-19 controls in the resumed catering
industry, targeting meat and seafood markets, supermarkets, frozen meat
warehouses and restaurants, the Global Times report said. Beijing
on Friday also changed its decision to reopen schools from first to
third grades after the city reported new Covid-19 cases for two
consecutive days.
Xu Hejian, a spokesperson of the Beijing
municipal government told media that “the risks of epidemic exist, and
we cannot tolerate any slack in regular prevention and control.” As
of Friday, the overall confirmed cases in China had reached 83,075,
including 74 patients who were still being treated, with no one in
severe condition. Altogether 78,367 people had been discharged after recovery and 4,634 people had died of the disease, NHC said.
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