Rabat – China sent its military police into Beijing’s Fengtai district after a cluster of new COVID-19 cases emerged in the city’s largest wholesale market, announced local Chinese officials on Friday.
After two months of the city hailing victory over the lack of confirmed COVID-19 cases, China is bracing for a second wave of outbreaks and moved the affected Beijing district into “wartime” mode.
While most of the world is still in the process of easing lockdown restrictions, China resumed most of its socio-economic activity more than a month ago, following overarching control over the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Due to new budding infections, lockdown measures are once again gripping 11 residential estates in China’s capital.
According to Chinese officials, authorities have traced back most of the latest cases to the Xinfadi meat market. At least three market workers, two visitors, and two employees at the China Meat Research Center (one visited the market last week) are among the confirmed cases.
Authorities have responded with immediate force by banning tourism in Beijing, closing nine nearby schools, sealing off local markets, cancelling events, and requiring more than 10,000 people to take nucleic acid COVID-19 tests.
Local official Chu Junwei said that Fengtai district was in “wartime emergency mode” after throat swab tests from 45 people, out of 517, tested COVID-19 positive. None of the infected people showed symptoms.
Despite numerous new infections, China has only confirmed seven new cases due to its controversial practice of only including symptomatic cases in its infection tally.
