Beijing health body says there are no new plague cases

The Beijing Municipal Health Commission has confirmed there are no new pneumonic plague cases in the city after speculation spread online about two patients.

The commission issued a statement on Thursday night saying that one person was treated in Xuanwu Hospital and the other at Beijing Children's Hospital. The two patients tested negative for the plague and were taken out of quarantine.

An expert team made diagnoses of the patients, both from Ordos, Inner Mongolia, by observing their clinical situations and examining the causes of their diseases, the commission said

News about the two suspected cases spread online after the Chaoyang district government in Beijing on Tuesday reported two confirmed cases of plague.

The two, from Xiliin Gol League in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, were confirmed to be pneumonic plague cases after being treated in a Chaoyang hospital earlier this month.

The commission said on Thursday that one plague patient was in stable condition while the other was "in critical condition but their symptoms had not deteriorated".

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday that the risk of the disease spreading in the capital is extremely low and there is no need for panic.