Beijing tests food markets after 7 new local cases detected

BEIJING (AP) – City authorities are moving quickly to stem a new outbreak of COVID-19 in Beijing after the discovery of seven cases in the past two days.

A medical vehicle pulls away from the entrance to a building holding a beef and lamb market in Beijing that was closed by authorities after it was visited by a person who tested positive for COVID-19, Friday, June 12, 2020. Local authorities announced on Thursday a 52-year-old man had become the city’s first confirmed case of local transmission in weeks after he arrived at a clinic complaining of fever. The official Xinhua News Agency said two other cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Beijing on Friday. (AP Photo / Mark Schiefelbein)

The National Health Commission said that six cases were confirmed on Friday. The first case was reported the previous day. They are the first locally transmitted cases in the Chinese capital in more than 50 days.
Chinese media said at least two of the infected people had visited a wholesale market dealing in fresh food. Authorities said all workers at the Xinfadi market were being tested for the coronavirus and also ordered the testing of food and environmental samples from all the city’s wholesale food markets.

Chinese police stand outside the entrance to a building holding a beef and lamb market in Beijing that was closed by authorities after it was visited by a person who tested positive for COVID-19, Friday, June 12, 2020. Local authorities announced on Thursday a 52-year-old man had become the city’s first confirmed case of local transmission in weeks after he arrived at a clinic complaining of fever. The official Xinhua News Agency said two other cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Beijing on Friday. (AP Photo / Mark Schiefelbein)

Earlier, the city said it would delay the planned reopening of school on Monday for first to third graders in primary school because of the new cases.

The Health Commission said that five imported cases were reported elsewhere in China in the last 24 hours, bringing the daily total to 11 and the nationwide cumulative total to 83,075. The death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.