China’s new coronavirus outbreak sees Beijing adopt ‘wartime’ measures

Beijing is reintroducing strict lockdown measures and rolling out mass testing after a fresh cluster of novel coronavirus cases emerged from the city’s largest wholesale food market, sparking fears of a resurgence of the deadly outbreak.

The Chinese capital reported 36 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total number to 79 since a locally transmitted infection was reported on June 12 for the first time in nearly two months, according to the National Health Commission.

The cases are linked to Xinfadi market in the southwest of the city, which supplies most of the capital’s fresh fruit and vegetables. The market, which also sells meat and seafood, has been shut down since Saturday.

The outbreak has already spread to the provinces of Liaoning and Hebei, where a total of five new cases were found to be close contacts of patients in Beijing.

The new cluster has sent shock waves throughout China, with Beijing’s municipal government spokesman Xu Hejian describing it as “an extraordinary period” during a press conference Sunday.

Chinese state media has repeatedly touted China’s effective measures in containing the virus as the number of infections and deaths surged abroad, contrasting its success with the failures of Western governments, especially the United States.

Source: cnn.com

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