Following reports of six new domestic COVID19 positive cases, parts of Beijing were placed under lockdown on Saturday.
According to reports, the residents have not been allowed to leave their homes in 11 residential estates under Fengtai district in south Beijing.
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City officials in a press briefing revealed that most of the positive cases had links with a meat market near the affected areas.
The first COVID19 positive patient, detected in two months, had no recent travel history outside the city but visited the Xinfadi meat market last week.
The decision to impose lockdown in parts of Beijing was taken fearing community transmission.
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Coronavirus was detected for the first time in the central city of Wuhan last year and then it spread to other parts of China and abroad.
However, the domestic outbreak was brought largely under control by imposing strict lockdowns.
Another report quoted an official in Chinese capital Beijing as saying the city’s Fengtai district is on a “wartime emergency footing” as lockdown is enforced in 11 neighbourhoods over the fear of a renewed coronavirus outbreak.
District official Chu Junwai, the report said, has confirmed 45 new positive cases at Xinfadi market. However, no one has shown symptoms of COVID19.
Xinfadi market supplies 80% of Beijing’s meat and vegetables, and the authorities said they traces of coronavirus have been found on a chopping block used for imported salmon.
Over 10,000 staff members of the market have been tested for COVID19.
So far, the Chinese mainland has recorded a total of 83,075 COVID19 cases, of which 1,808 were inbound cases.
China’s death toll stands at 4,644 and a total of 98 asymptomatic patients are under medical observation.
Globally, confirmed COVID19 cases have exceeded 7.6 million, with over 425,000 fatalities and more than 3.6 million recoveries, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University.