Beijing Officials Declare Outbreak 'under Control'

The new coronavirus outbreak that has infected 256 people in Beijing since early June is "under control", officials in the capital said Wednesday, but fears still remain over the risk of community transmission.

Authorities have raced to contain the outbreak linked to the largest wholesale food market in Beijing after the first case was announced on June 11, leading to a partial lockdown of the city.

"The Beijing epidemic directly linked to Xinfadi (market) is basically under control, but at the same time we have discovered household and workplace cluster infections and cases of community transmission," said Beijing municipal government spokesman Xu Hejian at a briefing.

"The prevention and control situation remains complicated, we cannot lower our guard in the slightest."

Officials found that 253 out of 256 Beijing cases were linked to Xinfadi in the south of the city, while contact tracing for the remaining three was still ongoing.

The city announced seven new cases on Wednesday, with the rate of infection slowing since the start of this week.

"This sends a very positive signal, and proves that the prevention and control measures taken lately, as well as lockdown of residential compounds, are effective," said Lei Haichao, head of the Beijing health commission.

"The combination of fever clinics, discovering (cases) from close contacts, and mass nucleic acid testing have played an important role in early detection."

The city increased its daily nucleic acid sample testing capacity to 300,000 from 100,000 per day in early June, said Lei, adding that 137 cases – just over half – were found through screening.

Nearly three million people have been tested, officials said. (AFP)