Chinese Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan urged on June 14 to resolute measures to stem the spread of cluster cases of COVID-19 in Beijing, according to Xinhua.
Sun reportedly made the remarks at a meeting of the State Council joint prevention and control mechanism against COVID-19.
Noting that the new cluster cases in Beijing were all related to Xinfadi, a wholesale farm produce market where a large number of people gather and visit, Sun warned of the high risk of virus spreading and asked for resolute response measures.
Xinhua says Sun called for the “strictest epidemiological investigations” at and around the market and “thorough source tracing” to identify and control the source of infection.
She stressed boosting nucleic acid testing capacity in Beijing to cover all key areas and key population groups and expanding the scope of testing to promptly discover infections and asymptomatic cases.
Sun called on communities to strictly carry out epidemic prevention and control measures, screen for confirmed cases, suspected cases, febrile patients who might be carriers, and close contacts, and put them under quarantine at designated facilities.
More efforts should be made to establish and renovate fever clinics at all medical institutions, she said, adding that disinfection and sterilization will be carried out in farm produce markets, restaurants and distribution places across the country.
Meanwhile, CNN says Beijing is reintroducing strict lockdown measures and rolling out mass testing after a fresh cluster of novel coronavirus cases emerged from the city's largest wholesale food market, sparking fears of a resurgence of the deadly outbreak.
The Chinese capital reported 36 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total number to 79 since a locally transmitted infection was reported on June 12 for the first time in nearly two months, according to the National Health Commission.
The outbreak has already spread to the provinces of Liaoning and Hebei, where a total of five new cases were found to be close contacts of patients in Beijing, according to CNN.
The new cluster has sent shock waves throughout China, with Beijing's municipal government spokesman Xu Hejian describing it as "an extraordinary period" during a press conference Sunday.
Fengtai district, where the Xinfadi market is located, announced Saturday the launch of a "wartime mechanism" and the establishment of a command center to curb the spread of the virus.
Authorities imposed a lockdown on 11 residential compounds in the vicinity of the market, strictly prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving. Residents will have their temperatures checked and reported on a daily basis, and their food and daily necessities delivered.
Beijing also rolled out mass nucleic acid testing for the coronavirus, setting up 193 sampling booths across the city. More than 76,000 people were tested on Sunday, with 59 people testing positive, Xu said at a news conference on Monday.
Authorities reportedly also tracked down and collected samples from nearly 30,000 people who had been to the market in the 14 days prior to its closure. All of the 12,000 tests conducted so far showed negative results, Xu said.
