Two new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Beijing
Beijing confirmed two new COVID-19 cases on Friday in the city's Fengtai district, both cases being employees from the same workplace, a senior district official said on Friday.
The two newly added novel coronavirus patients, both Beijing residents and employees at the China Meat Food Integrated Research Center, tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday and were sent to designated hospitals for quarantine and further medical treatment, said Zhang Jie, deputy district head of Fengtai, at a news briefing held in Beijing on Friday.
One patient, surnamed Liu, had been to Qingdao, Shandong province on a business trip for five days over the last two weeks, but the patient allegedly did not have any close contact with overseas travelers or returnees from Hubei province.
The other patient, surnamed Yin, also didn't have any contact with inbound travelers or returnees from Hubei province over the past two weeks, according to Zhang.
Epidemiological investigations are underway in Fengtai district, Zhang said, adding sampling and screening had been conducted at places where the patients had been previously.
Enclosed management will also be implemented and strengthened at the neighborhood communities and workplaces of the patients, Zhang added.
The capital had confirmed three new novel coronavirus cases on Thursday and Friday, with the first in Xicheng after the capital had reported no new locally transmitted cases for 56 consecutive days.
One of the two close contacts of the confirmed case in Xicheng is a fourth-grade student, the capital health authority said on Friday.
So far, all students and teachers in the class of the fourth-grade student have tested negative for the virus, said Miao Jianhong, deputy director of the capital's Xicheng district, on Friday.
The patient from Xicheng on June 3 had bought seafood and meat in Xinfadi, a wholesale market for agricultural products in Fengtai district, said Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
The beef and lamb trading hall in the wholesale market had been shut down as of Friday, the Beijing News reported.
Chen Yankai, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Market Regulation Bureau, said at the conference the capital will carry out inspections at the city's fresh frozen meat trading markets.
In another development, the city's education authorities said Friday the city had suspended campus returns for primary school students in grades 1, 2 and 3. The resumption of offline courses for training institutions has also been suspended.
Previously, primary school students in grades 1, 2 and 3 were scheduled to head back to campus on June 15.
