New Beijing Outbreak Linked to Wholesale Food Market
A new outbreak of the Nobel Coronavirus in Beijing has been linked to the Wholesale Food Market in the area.
Beijing authorities have described the city’s coronavirus outbreak as “extremely severe” as dozens of more cases emerged, sports and entertainment sites were closed and travel was curtailed.
Parts of the Chinese capital were fenced off on Monday night, with security checkpoints set up at residential compounds, and high-risk people – such as close contacts of diagnosed cases – prevented from leaving the city.
Yang Zhanqiu, a deputy director at the pathogen biology department at Wuhan University told state media he believed the new outbreak involved a more contagious strain of the virus than the one that hit Wuhan at the beginning of the pandemic.
More than 20 Beijing neighborhoods have now been designated medium risk and health authorities said on Tuesday that sealed-off residences and people in quarantine would have food and medicine delivered to them.
“The epidemic situation in the capital is extremely severe,” Beijing city spokesman Xu Hejian warned at a press conference. “Right now we have to take strict measures to stop the spread of Covid-19.”
Ayooluwa Joshua