Beijing responds to Qingdao outbreak with COVID-19 measures

Beijing's disease control authority on Monday suggested citizens should not go Qingdao in East China's Shandong province if it's not highly necessary, as the northeastern coastal city had confirmed six COVID-19 cases and reported another six asymptomatic cases by noon.

Pang Xinghuo, deputy head of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a news conference on Monday afternoon, that Qingdao is carrying out large-scale nucleic acid testing of all residents. Thus, it's not a good time to travel to Qingdao or go there for business trips.

"Residents in Beijing who have been to Qingdao in the past 14 days should monitor their health condition closely," she said. "Those who have been to Qingdao since Sept 27 and have taken a taxi with the car plate number UT4923 should get in contact with the community or go to a medical institution for nucleic acid testing."

The driver of this taxi in Qingdao was confirmed to be an asymptomatic case of COVID-19, according to the local health authority.

Many kindergartens, primary and high schools in Beijing have started screening students' recent travel by asking parents to report whether they had been to Qingdao since Sept 27 or whether they are living with people from Qingdao.

On Monday afternoon, Li Xiang, mother of a 3-year-old, received messages from her daughter's kindergarten in Chaoyang district to report whether the family had been to Qingdao over the National Day holiday.

"The ones who have been to Qingdao are required to report to teachers," she said. "As far as I know, many schools in Beijing have started collecting such information."

Beijing reported an imported confirmed COVID-19 case on Sunday and all close contacts with the case have been taken to centralized quarantine.