SHANGHAI: Mainland China reported 49 new confirmed COVID-19 cases for Jun 14, down from 57 a day earlier, the national health authority said on Monday (Jun 15).
The National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement that 39 of the new confirmed cases were locally transmitted.
Thirty-six of the new cases were in Beijing, the same number reported for the capital a day earlier and tied for the highest daily infection count for the city since authorities started releasing data.
The NHC reported 10 new imported coronavirus cases in mainland China as of the end of Jun 14, down from 19 a day earlier. The commission also reported 18 new asymptomatic cases, up from nine a day earlier.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in mainland China now stands at 83,181. The death toll remains unchanged at 4,634.
China does not count asymptomatic patients, who are infected with the virus but do not display symptoms, as confirmed cases.
BEIJING: Beijing carried out mass testing for the coronavirus on Sunday (Jun 14) after a new outbreak in the city that prompted travel warnings across the country amid fears of a resurgence of the disease.
The deadly contagion had been brought largely under control in China through strict lockdowns that were imposed early this year but have since been lifted.
But a fresh cluster linked to a wholesale food market in the capital has sparked widespread alarm and raised the spectre of a return to painful restrictions.
A security personnel wearing a protective suit checks the temperature of people entering the Xinfadi market in Beijing, China. (NOEL CELIS/AFP)
The National Health Commission (NHC) reported 57 new infections on Sunday, of which 36 were local transmissions in Beijing, all linked to the Xinfadi market.
Another two domestic infections were in northeastern Liaoning province and were close contacts of the Beijing cases.
The 19 other infections were among Chinese nationals returning from abroad.
Liaoning was among several provinces to advise residents against travelling to Beijing due to the new outbreak - along with cities such as nearby Tianjin and several in Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing.
Some local authorities said people entering from Beijing would have to quarantine, state media reported.
In the capital, lockdowns have been imposed on a very small part of the city that includes 11 residential estates near the market which supplies most of the city's fresh produce.
Officials said on Sunday they planned to carry out virus tests on 46,000 residents in the area surrounding the market and had set up 24 testing stations.
A police officer wearing a face mask is seen outside an entrance of the Xinfadi wholesale market, which has been closed for business after new coronavirus infections were detected, in Beijing, China. (cnsphoto via Reuters)
Everyone who works at Xinfadi also has to undergo testing.
So far 10,881 people have been tested in the area with another eight cases diagnosed on Sunday. They were not included in the NHC's tally earlier in the day that covered the previous 24 hours.
"I went to Xinfadi market so I want to confirm that I am not infected," a 32-year-old woman surnamed Guo told AFP as she queued in scorching heat at a stadium waiting for a virus test.
"We were told that after the tests ... if it is positive, we will be taken directly to the hospital."
LOCKDOWNS AND CLOSURES
One of Sunday's new cases was a 56-year-old man who works as an airport bus driver and had visited the Xinfadi market in early June before later falling ill, state-run People's Daily reported.
The meat section of the huge, sprawling market was closed on Sunday and AFP reporters saw hundreds of police officers and security personnel plus dozens of paramilitary police blocking access.
Efforts to trace those who had visited the market have begun, with companies and neighbourhood communities messaging staff and residents across the city to ask about their recent movements.
A vegetable market adjacent to Xinfadi was open on Sunday and trucks were arriving to deliver or collect stock.
"Afraid? Not really" a delivery driver surnamed Zhang told AFP.
"But anyway I have no choice - I am part of the lowest class of society. So I have to keep working in order to make a living."
In nearby streets, residents were under lockdown and restaurants closed.
Some people used a wooden stepladder propped against the gated entrance to one community to pass supplies to loved ones.
A resident surnamed Chen told AFP he had made several trips with his car to the front gate of his compound to deliver food.
"As soon as I finish delivering the supplies to my family members, I will go upstairs to join them," he said.
"After that I won't be able to get out."
FOOD FEARS
COVID-19 first emerged late last year and one of the first clusters was from a market in the central city of Wuhan that sold wild animals for meat.
The latest outbreak in Beijing has turned the spotlight on the hygiene of the city's food supply chain.
State-run media reported that the virus was detected on chopping boards used to handle imported salmon, and that major supermarkets had removed the fish from their stocks.
Beijing authorities ordered a city-wide food safety inspection focusing on fresh and frozen meat, poultry and fish in supermarkets, warehouses and catering services.
One trader surnamed Sun, selling tomatoes and cherries at a central food market, told AFP there were fewer customers than normal.
"People are scared," he said.
City authorities have closed nine schools and kindergartens near Xinfadi, while sporting events and cross-provincial tour groups have been stopped.
BEIJING - The Chinese capital on Sunday (June 14) declared an area surrounding a wholesale market "high risk" after dozens of new coronavirus cases emerged, sparking fears of a second wave of infections in the city.
Health authorities reported 44 new coronavirus infections in Beijing, all of whom were linked to the Xinfadi Wholesale Market, which has since been shut down.
All the market's workers and some 46,000 people living in the vicinity will have to undergo testing, authorities said.
Thirty-six of the cases were detected on Saturday during mass testing of market workers while eight new infections were reported early on Sunday.
Many of them were people who had visited the market or were close contacts of those who did, Beijing authorities said, adding that 11 infected people live in the same neighbourhood.
Beijing has entered an "extraordinary period", city spokesman Xu Hejian told reporters during a press conference Sunday (June 14).
All markets, dining outlets and logistics companies countrywide have been ordered to undergo disinfection, said a statement from a coronavirus task force led by Premier Li Keqiang.
With the market very densely populated with a huge movement of people, contact tracing needs to be carried out in the "most stringent" way, noted the task force.
The government has also declared Fengtai, the area where the market is located, to be a high risk area.
Members of the public have been asked to avoid going to the region while those who have visited the market on or before May 30 have been asked to voluntarily take a Covid-19 swab test.
Beijing authorities have put out a list of the areas where the confirmed cases live, as well as a list of their workplaces. They include two restaurants and five markets, as well as a company operating airport buses.
People who visited or live near Xinfadi Market queueing for a swab test at Guang’an Sport Centre in Beijing on June 14, 2020. PHOTO: AFP
Residents in 11 estates around the market were ordered to stay home beginning last Saturday, with food and groceries being brought to their door by local community workers.
The move harks back to lockdowns enforced in much of China earlier this year when the outbreak was in full swing. Much of the domestic situation has come under control through the strict enforcement of such shut ins, but pockets of cases have continue to surface.
Meanwhile, the National Health Commission said two other local infections reported in China on Sunday were in north-eastern Liaoning province, some 670km away, and were linked to the Xinfadi cluster. A further 19 infections were imported by Chinese returning home from abroad.
Authorities have been quick to reassure Beijingers that their food supply will not be disrupted by the market's closure, saying that there are alternative distribution channels. The city's largest food wholesale market, Xinfadi, is believed to supply nearly 90 per cent of Beijing's fruit and vegetables.
Local media images showed dozens of police and paramilitary officers surrounding the sprawling market on Sunday, which has been barricaded.
A security officer checking the temperature of people entering Xinfadi market in Beijing on June 14, 2020. PHOTO: AFP
That the recent outbreak started in a market has also sparked fresh concerns about hygiene and food safety, especially after traces of the coronavirus were found on a cutting board used for imported salmon at the market.
As a precaution, major supermarkets have pulled the fish off shelves and Beijing has ordered the entire city to undergo a thorough food safety inspection.
It is now imperative to investigate Xinfadi's food supply chain to determine how the virus entered Beijing, said Dr Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"Beijing has not had any new coronavirus infections for over 50 days... if all the new cases don't have travel history of leaving the city, and have truly been infected here, then it is possible that the imported foods or contaminated foods from outside the city have brought in the virus," he said.
Genetic sequencing of the virus has shown that it came from Europe, according to an expert from the Beijing CDC.
"The preliminary judgement is that the virus was imported," Dr Yang Peng said in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV.
"But it is still unclear exactly how the virus (entered China), it could possibly be from contaminated seafood or meat, or have been carried into the market by people," he said.
How the coronavirus could have spread from a wholesale market
But unlike the Huanan market, where wild animals were sold for meat, the sprawling Beijing complex sells only agricultural products, supplying up to 90 per cent of the city's vegetables.
Xinfadi, the biggest of such wholesale centres in Beijing, supplies supermarkets, grocery stalls and even small corner stores.
Usually a bustling hive of activity, it is unsurprising the virus resurfaced there because of close interaction and even exposure to imported food items, Dr Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told the official Xinhua news agency.
"With tens of thousands of new cases globally, it could be that an infected person overseas contaminated meat or seafood while handling it," Dr Wu added.
"The virus could have stayed alive longer because of the cool environment, and someone toughing the contaminated produce could have rubbed their noses or eyes after, thus getting infected."
Since the early stages of infection present mild symptoms, it is possible the person continued going to work, thus spreading the virus to others, Dr Wu added.
Hong Kong police decisions on June 12 marked point of no return South China Morning PostView Full coverage on Google News
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMid2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnNjbXAuY29tL2NvbW1lbnQvbGV0dGVycy9hcnRpY2xlLzMwODg3MTEvaG9uZy1rb25nLXByb3Rlc3RzLXBvbGljZS1kZWNpc2lvbnMtanVuZS0xMi1tYXJrZWQtcG9pbnQtbm8tcmV0dXJu0gF3aHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuc2NtcC5jb20vY29tbWVudC9sZXR0ZXJzL2FydGljbGUvMzA4ODcxMS9ob25nLWtvbmctcHJvdGVzdHMtcG9saWNlLWRlY2lzaW9ucy1qdW5lLTEyLW1hcmtlZC1wb2ludC1uby1yZXR1cm4?oc=5
BEIJING: Beijing on Sunday (Jun 14) reported a record 36 new cases of COVID-19 in China's capital, all linked to a major food wholesale market, raising concerns about the spike in a country that had sharply reduced its infections.
The city has ordered testing of anyone linked to the Xinfadi market, after the district containing the market put itself on a "wartime" footing and Beijing banned tourism and sports events amid fears of a new wave of the pandemic in the country where it arose last year.
"Beijing has entered an extraordinary period," city spokesman Xu Hejian told a news conference on Sunday.
The new cases for Saturday and the rest of the 43 cases reported over the past three days have been linked to the market in Fengtai district in the southwest of Beijing, city health authority data showed.
Of the 36 newly infected people, 12 live in a residential compound for Xinfadi workers. Almost everyone had either worked or shopped inside the market.
One of the people is a 56-year-old employee with a Beijing airport bus company, who had shopped at the market on Jun 3 and developed symptoms two days later. The city-backed Beijing News reported the man had not worked at the airport for months and had no contact with travellers.
Long queues for coronavirus tests appeared outside a hospital near the market on Sunday, pictures in the state-run People's Daily showed.
City officials decided on Saturday that anyone who had been to or had contact with people who had been to Xinfadi since May 30 will be required to report to their work or residential units and be tested for the new coronavirus that causes the disease, Beijing News said.
Anyone working in the market or living nearby must also be tested, the report said.
In addition, Beijing health authority spokesman Gao Xiaojun told the news conference anyone in the city with a fever will be given nucleic-acid and serology tests for the coronavirus, a blood test and a CT scan.
Medical facilities are not allowed to turn away patients with fever symptoms, Gao said.
City officials ordered samples to be taken from the market and for it to be completely disinfected, Beijing News said.
At least 10 cities, including Harbin and Dalian, have urged residents not to travel to Beijing and to report to authorities if they have done so recently.
Authorities shut down the Xinfadi market before dawn on Saturday after seven people who had recently been to the market were found to have the virus in the preceding two days.
More than 1,500 tonnes of seafood, 18,000 tonnes of vegetables and 20,000 tonnes of fruit are traded at the market daily, according to its website.
Protests in Hong Kong to mark the June 12 anniversary of the first major clashes of last year’s anti-government unrest. (PHOTO: AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
By Alfred Liu, Lulu Yilun Chen and Vinicy Chan
(Bloomberg) -- One Hong Kong businessman moved US$10 million to Singapore and plans to transfer more. Another is eyeing London property, worried that prices in Hong Kong are too high. Well-to-do families across the city are opening offshore bank accounts and applying for alternative passports.
While it doesn’t add up to an exodus just yet, Hong Kong’s rich are increasingly hedging their bets as the financial hub suffers its worst economic and political crises since at least 1997.
Many high-net-worth investors are either reducing their Hong Kong exposure or taking steps to ensure they can withdraw assets at a moment’s notice, underscoring the challenge for Chief Executive Carrie Lam as she tries to maintain the city’s status as magnet for Asian wealth. Rich individuals are major players in Hong Kong’s equity and real-estate markets as well as big buyers of Chinese corporate bonds issued in the city.
Private bankers say their clients accelerated contingency planning efforts after China announced last month it would impose controversial national security laws on Hong Kong. The legislation threatens to erode the former British colony’s judicial independence, provoke sanctions from the U.S. and revive street protests that battered the tourism and retail industries even before the coronavirus outbreak plunged the economy into its deepest recession on record.
“What we’re basically seeing is a bit like a slow-moving train wreck,” said Richard Harris, chief executive of Port Shelter Investment Management in Hong Kong. “People who haven’t moved their money out may be tempted to think: ‘Well, maybe I should be moving my money out.’ That process is likely to continue.”
To be sure, there’s little evidence so far of widespread capital flight.
Hong Kong bank deposits increased to a record in April and the city’s currency has continued to trade at the strong end of its permitted band against the dollar. Hong Kong’s wealthiest billionaires have publicly endorsed the proposed security laws and expressed confidence in the city’s future.
In private, however, many Hong Kong entrepreneurs and high-earning professionals are sounding a more pessimistic note.
Cheng, the businessman who moved US$10 million to Singapore, also secured his permanent resident status in the city-state this year and has been selling his Hong Kong properties. He has no concrete plans to emigrate yet, but is considering his options. He and his family have passports from the U.S., Canada, Australia and France.
Cheng, who was born in Hong Kong, said he worries about China’s tightening grip on the city and the prospect for more unrest. Like several of the people quoted in this story, he asked not to reveal his full name because of the political sensitivity of the subject.
Sam, a senior investment banker in Hong Kong, has decided to leave the city. The 43-year-old is emigrating to Australia with his wife and two young boys in about three months, the second time he will have left Hong Kong during a period of political turmoil. Sam grew up in the city, but moved to Brisbane when he was 12 after his parents got spooked by China’s crackdown on protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989. He came back to Hong Kong 20 years ago for his career but now sees no upside to staying.
“Things are looking bad and deteriorating,” he said. “We may as well pack our bags and move to Australia so that the kids can have a better environment growing up.”
Margaret Chau, a Hong Kong-based immigration program director for Goldmax Immigration Consulting Co., said inquiries at her firm have jumped about five-fold after news of the national security legislation. For now, most of her wealthy customers are more interested setting up an escape route than leaving right away.
“They see this as a backup plan,” Chau said.
Kerry Goh, chief executive officer of multi-family office Kamet Capital in Singapore, said his clients have shifted from asking generic questions about moving out of Hong Kong to making detailed inquiries about everything from schools to visas and bank accounts.
“What’s happened in Hong Kong has really sped up the timing of 2047,” Goh said, referring to the expiration date of China’s 50-year pledge to preserve Hong Kong’s autonomy after the handover from Britain. “As Hong Kong’s troubles shoot up, the benefits of Singapore have become more self-explanatory.”
Other more far-flung locales are also attracting increased interest from investors in Hong Kong. Puerto Rico’s Standard International Bank, a so-called International Financial Entity that expanded its footprint in Asia last year, has seen its deposits more than triple since December 2019, according to general manager Maria Diaz. “Turbulence in Hong Kong has changed the landscape,” she said.
Dennis, a 34-year-old executive at a Hong Kong-based consulting firm founded by his parents, said his family and many of their friends have started moving cash out of the city. He’s looking to buy more properties in the U.K., where he spent almost a decade attending boarding school and university.
“I could buy a much bigger flat in London, so why not?” he said. “I’m just trying to protect my money against any uncertainty.”
Protests in Hong Kong to mark the June 12 anniversary of the first major clashes of last year’s anti-government unrest. (PHOTO: AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
By Alfred Liu, Lulu Yilun Chen and Vinicy Chan
(Bloomberg) -- One Hong Kong businessman moved US$10 million to Singapore and plans to transfer more. Another is eyeing London property, worried that prices in Hong Kong are too high. Well-to-do families across the city are opening offshore bank accounts and applying for alternative passports.
While it doesn’t add up to an exodus just yet, Hong Kong’s rich are increasingly hedging their bets as the financial hub suffers its worst economic and political crises since at least 1997.
Many high-net-worth investors are either reducing their Hong Kong exposure or taking steps to ensure they can withdraw assets at a moment’s notice, underscoring the challenge for Chief Executive Carrie Lam as she tries to maintain the city’s status as magnet for Asian wealth. Rich individuals are major players in Hong Kong’s equity and real-estate markets as well as big buyers of Chinese corporate bonds issued in the city.
Private bankers say their clients accelerated contingency planning efforts after China announced last month it would impose controversial national security laws on Hong Kong. The legislation threatens to erode the former British colony’s judicial independence, provoke sanctions from the U.S. and revive street protests that battered the tourism and retail industries even before the coronavirus outbreak plunged the economy into its deepest recession on record.
“What we’re basically seeing is a bit like a slow-moving train wreck,” said Richard Harris, chief executive of Port Shelter Investment Management in Hong Kong. “People who haven’t moved their money out may be tempted to think: ‘Well, maybe I should be moving my money out.’ That process is likely to continue.”
To be sure, there’s little evidence so far of widespread capital flight.
Hong Kong bank deposits increased to a record in April and the city’s currency has continued to trade at the strong end of its permitted band against the dollar. Hong Kong’s wealthiest billionaires have publicly endorsed the proposed security laws and expressed confidence in the city’s future.
In private, however, many Hong Kong entrepreneurs and high-earning professionals are sounding a more pessimistic note.
Cheng, the businessman who moved US$10 million to Singapore, also secured his permanent resident status in the city-state this year and has been selling his Hong Kong properties. He has no concrete plans to emigrate yet, but is considering his options. He and his family have passports from the U.S., Canada, Australia and France.
Cheng, who was born in Hong Kong, said he worries about China’s tightening grip on the city and the prospect for more unrest. Like several of the people quoted in this story, he asked not to reveal his full name because of the political sensitivity of the subject.
Sam, a senior investment banker in Hong Kong, has decided to leave the city. The 43-year-old is emigrating to Australia with his wife and two young boys in about three months, the second time he will have left Hong Kong during a period of political turmoil. Sam grew up in the city, but moved to Brisbane when he was 12 after his parents got spooked by China’s crackdown on protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989. He came back to Hong Kong 20 years ago for his career but now sees no upside to staying.
“Things are looking bad and deteriorating,” he said. “We may as well pack our bags and move to Australia so that the kids can have a better environment growing up.”
Margaret Chau, a Hong Kong-based immigration program director for Goldmax Immigration Consulting Co., said inquiries at her firm have jumped about five-fold after news of the national security legislation. For now, most of her wealthy customers are more interested setting up an escape route than leaving right away.
“They see this as a backup plan,” Chau said.
Kerry Goh, chief executive officer of multi-family office Kamet Capital in Singapore, said his clients have shifted from asking generic questions about moving out of Hong Kong to making detailed inquiries about everything from schools to visas and bank accounts.
“What’s happened in Hong Kong has really sped up the timing of 2047,” Goh said, referring to the expiration date of China’s 50-year pledge to preserve Hong Kong’s autonomy after the handover from Britain. “As Hong Kong’s troubles shoot up, the benefits of Singapore have become more self-explanatory.”
Other more far-flung locales are also attracting increased interest from investors in Hong Kong. Puerto Rico’s Standard International Bank, a so-called International Financial Entity that expanded its footprint in Asia last year, has seen its deposits more than triple since December 2019, according to general manager Maria Diaz. “Turbulence in Hong Kong has changed the landscape,” she said.
Dennis, a 34-year-old executive at a Hong Kong-based consulting firm founded by his parents, said his family and many of their friends have started moving cash out of the city. He’s looking to buy more properties in the U.K., where he spent almost a decade attending boarding school and university.
“I could buy a much bigger flat in London, so why not?” he said. “I’m just trying to protect my money against any uncertainty.”
