Beijing continues to find cases in communities

COVID-19 transmission chains have not yet been completely cut off in Beijing, as the city continues to find infections during mass nucleic acid testing in communities, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Beijing reported 52 new locally transmitted confirmed cases between 3 pm on Tuesday and 3 pm on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections since April 22 to 505. The infections involve 15 districts.

Among the new infections, 45 were reported from controlled zones, six were found during nucleic acid testing in communities and one case was a patient who had a sore throat and went to a hospital for medical treatment, said Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing CDC, at a news conference.

Of the total infections during the latest outbreak, Chaoyang district registered 201 cases as of 3 pm Wednesday, followed by Fangshan district, which has reported 130 cases since April 22.

During the same period, Tongzhou district reported 52 cases and Fengtai district reported 37 cases, she added.

Due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, one more residential community in Chaoyang was designated as a high-risk area on Wednesday.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Beijing had 13 high-risk areas for COVID-19 and 34 medium-risk areas.

Contact the writer at dujuan@chinadaily.com.cn