An area of the Chinese capital Beijing has been put under strict lockdown measures after the city’s first coronavirus cases in more than 50 days.
The outbreak has been linked to the city’s largest wholesale market. A total of 45 people out of 517 tested at the Xinfadi market tested positive for Covid-19, a district official said. None were displaying symptoms.
Lockdowns have been imposed in 11 nearby neighbourhoods, while 10,000 market staff will be tested.
The authorities also want to test everyone who has had recent contact with the market as well as those living in the district surrounding it. These are the first new confirmed cases in Beijing for more than 50 days.
Xinfadi market in the city’s south-western Fengtai district was shut down in the early hours of Saturday, after two men who had recently visited the market were reported to have Covid-19.
Tests at the market then showed 45 people had the virus.
In accordance with the principle of putting the safety of the masses and health first, we have adopted lockdown measures for the Xinfadi market and surrounding neighbourhoods,” Chu Junwei, a district official, told a briefing. The district is in a “wartime emergency mode”, he added.
Hundreds of military police have entered the now locked-down facility. Nearby transport links and schools have been closed.
Right across Beijing sport has been cancelled and major public facilities are pulling down the shutters again.
There will now be fears of a second wave of the virus in the capital.
Source: BBC News
Photos: Getty Images
