BEIJING (BLOOMBERG) – China is racing to control a new outbreak in Beijing that reached nearly 100 infections over the weekend, providing the biggest test of the country’s coronavirus containment strategy since the pathogen first emerged in Wuhan.
Officials are fanning out over housing compounds, knocking on doors to question residents on whether they have been to or had contact with anyone who has visited the city’s largest fruit and vegetable market, Xinfadi, where the new outbreak is believed to have originated.
In the Xicheng district where the first case from the new outbreak was found, people lined up late at night over the weekend at a sports stadium that has been re-purposed as a testing centre. Cases have now spread to another market and over twenty residential compounds across the city were locked down by Monday (June 15).
Elementary schools for first to third grade students delayed the resumption of classes and high-schoolers were encouraged to study from home. Some companies told employees to work from home, housing compounds ramped up security checks and swimming pools were shuttered.
“The risk of virus spread is very high, and resolute and decisive measures are needed to prevent further spread,” vice premier Sun Chunlan said during a state council meeting on Sunday, reported state media.
The abrupt resurgence of cases in the capital of more than 20 million people threatens to disrupt the hard-won normalisation of everyday life and business after China quelled its first epidemic months ago. The outbreak in Beijing – China’s cultural and political centre where its business elites and political leadership reside – could be a reckoning for the Asian giant’s strategy of aggressive virus control.
While China has contained outbreaks in its central and northeastern regions through oppressive lockdowns, it has never had a significant flare-up in a major city until now. There are already signs of hesitation to impose the costly and disruptive measures China has used elsewhere: while transport links were cut off quickly in northeastern provinces when a new cluster emerged last month, Beijing’s domestic flights and train services were still running without interruption as of Monday morning.
But with new cases likely to grow as mass testing gets underway, an escalation of restrictions in the capital could happen quickly.
“One possibility is that further infections will be identified across the city in the coming days, and a city-wide lockdown will be implemented for a few weeks,” said Prof Ben Cowling, division head of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Hong Kong.
“Lockdowns in China can be very effective because of the infrastructure for restricting people from leaving their homes but at the same time ensuring that they have sufficient food and other essentials.”
The new outbreak is re-igniting fears that the pandemic, which has sickened over 7.8 million people and killed over 430,000 people worldwide, is nowhere close to burning out. Infections in Japan’s capital of Tokyo are also on the rise, while American states like Florida are reporting record case growth.
FROZEN FOOD FEARS
All 79 confirmed cases detected in the last four days in Beijing have been merchants or visitors to the Xinfadi market and their family members. Mr Zhang Yuxi, the market’s chairman, said on Friday that the virus has been traced to a chopping board used by a seller of imported salmon at the market, but officials remain stumped over the new cluster’s origins.
Beijing locked down 10 residential compounds in northwestern Haidian district on Monday, after finding coronavirus cases at nearby Yuquandong market, Mr Li Junjie, executive vice head of Haidian district, said at a city government briefing. The cases at the market are linked to the epicentre Xinfadi wholesale market in southwestern Fengtai district.
Genome sequencing of the virus points to its source being Europe and the new outbreak could have originated from contaminated seafood or meat that was imported into China, said Dr Yang Peng, a researcher with the Beijing Centre for Diseases Prevention and Control in an interview on state television CCTV, on Sunday.
Dr Wu Zunyou, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention’s chief expert, advised Beijing residents not to purchase imported agricultural products or frozen food. He said the virus can survive on the surface of frozen food for up to three months and the agency “highly suspects” contaminated goods as the source of the latest outbreak.
The market, which supplies 80 per cent of Beijing’s farm produce, was closed on Saturday for disinfection while more than 10,000 merchants and employees will undergo testing. Several neighbourhoods in Beijing, including the financial district that is home to the headquarters of China’s biggest banks and financial firms, have seen their risk levels raised to medium from low.
The deputy head of the district that is home to the wholesale market and the general manager of the market have been dismissed.
“I can sense the panic although I live quite far away from the market,” said Beijing resident Cathy Liu, 26, an intellectual property analyst. “The unknown origin makes it even more terrifying. We can’t rule out the possibility of a huge outbreak in Beijing.”
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
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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.
