Beijing Confirms 6 New COVID-19 Cases

Beijing confirmed six new domestically transmitted cases of COVID-19 on Friday, local authorities said on Saturday.

Apart from the two confirmed cases, both of whom are employees of the China Meat Food Research Center in the Fengtai District and which were reported earlier on Friday, four new cases were reported between 4 p.m. And midnight on Friday, according to a press conference held on Saturday morning.

The epidemiological investigation found that all four newly reported cases were in the Xinfadi Wholesale Farm Products Sector in Fengtai City, said Pang Xinghuo, Deputy Director of the Beijing Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, at a press conference.

The first case of COVID-19 was a 38-year-old local man who bought goods on the Xinfadi wholesale market on 30 May, 5 June and 6 June. After showing symptoms of fever , headache and numbness on June 9, he went to a fever clinic in Shijingshan District for treatment two days later and was confirmed to be a mild case of COVID-19.

The second new case was a 50-year-old male from the city of Baoding, Hebei Province. He worked as a driver and a purchasing agent in the seafood market of Xinfadi where he also lived. After showing symptoms of fever and cough on June 6, he sought treatment in Beijing Tiantan Hospital on Friday and was confirmed as a severe case of COVID-19.

The third new case was a 35-year-old man, also from Baoding. He worked as a vendor in the seafood market of Xinfadi and also lived there. Showing fever symptoms on June 10, he went to Beijing Tiantan Hospital for treatment on Friday and was confirmed as a mild case of COVID-19.

The fourth new case was a 27-year-old woman from east China’s Shandong Province who ran her business in the Xinfadi wholesale market. She developed symptoms of fever and cough on June 9 and was diagnosed as being COVID-19 positive by Beijing Friendship Hospital on Friday.

All the newly confirmed COVID-19 cases have been transferred to designated hospitals in the capital for treatment, according to Pang.

Meanwhile, Beijing’s centers for disease control and prevention at both the municipal and district level have organized professionals to carry out investigations in wholesale markets of farm products and large supermarkets throughout the city.

A total of 5,424 samples of seafood , meat and other food as well as samples from the outside environment were collected for nucleic acid testing of COVID-19. Forty environmental tests from the Xinfadi wholesale sector tested positive, whereas tests from other wholesale markets tested negative for agricultural goods and major capital supermarkets, according to Pang.

Five cases of COVID-19 were reported in the Fengtai District on Friday. Positive nucleic acid samples linked to documented cases have been identified from external environmental specimens. Preliminary findings suggest that these cases may have been in contact with a market polluted site or infected people, Pang said.

A total of 139 close contacts of the new cases in Fengtai District have been put under collective medical observation, according to the district government.

Source: Xinhua