BEIJING – China has reported 57 new confirmed Covid-19 cases including 36 locally transmitted cases in Beijing, local health authorities announced on Sunday.
The total number of confirmed locally transmitted cases in the Chinese capital now stands at 463 while the confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland stand at 83,132 and the cumulative death toll at 4,634, while 103 asymptomatic patients are under medical observation.
Fengtai District in Beijing has launched wartime-like control measures to curb the spread of novel coronavirus after the virus was detected at Xinfadi wholesale market in the district.
Eleven residential communities around the market have been closed off, said the authorities. Three primary schools and six kindergartens were also closed in the area.
Beijing authorities also suspended group tours and sports events. The local health authorities also warned of the rise of new cases.
However, the pubic health experts assure Beijing’s regionally clustered Covid-19 infections would not cause a second wave of the epidemic in China, but act as a warning to alter the nation’s anti-epidemic policies.
The epidemic in Beijing, being the capital, strings hearts and confidence of the whole nation in fighting against Covid-19, but Wang Peiyu, deputy head of Peking University’s School of Public Health, believes the clustered infections in the capital will be curbed soon and would not cause a second wave of Covid-19.
Wang told the Global Times that the consecutive reports of confirmed cases indeed triggered widespread panic in Beijing, where it has been implementing one of the most-strict anti-epidemic measures in the entire country.
“Whether China can prevent domestic cases from further rebounding depends on how quick and well Beijing curbs Covid-19,” Wang said.
As a severe pandemic, it is normal to see a rebound of the epidemic after it’s basically controlled. Outbreak rebounds were also seen in countries like Japan and South Korea recently, the public health expert said.
