On Monday, authorities announced 49 new cases, 36 of which were linked to the Xinfadi seafood supermarket in Beijing’s southern Fengtai district. Samples taken from the market have shown traces of the virus on imported fish and meat. Yang Peng, an epidemiologist with the Beijing city government said the virus might have come from overseas but more investigation was needed.
About 139 people who have come in close contact to these people have been quarantined and about 10,000 who work in the market are to be tested.
Following this, officials in Beijing have reimposed lockdown, as health officials have raised fears about a second wave of coronavirus outbreak. The city which had also been under lockdown for 55 days has only just returned to normalcy, when there were new cases reported because of citizens returning from abroad.
The new cases in Beijing are especially alarming given the strict travel restrictions and quarantine measures the city imposed to prevent cases from other parts of the country spreading to the capital. Xu Hejian, Beijing city’s spokesperson, said, “The risk of the epidemic spreading is very high, so we should take resolute and decisive measures,” terming this an ‘extraordinary period’.
China, which has reported a total of 83,000 COVID infections and an official death toll of 4,634, has prided itself with containing the virus. But analysts and researchers have ever since warned them about a second wave of infections, while also raising doubts about the statistics released.