Outbreak of the virus in a wholesale market in Beijing raises concern about second wave of covid-19 disease in the country • Flights to Bangladesh have been halted after four cases were discovered
Beijing authorities investigate corona cases // Photo: AP
The number of corona virus infections reported by authorities in China is highest since April after 57 people were reported to have been diagnosed by the country's authorities.
Media outlets have reported widespread closure in Beijing's capital after the outbreak of the virus was detected in a wholesale market in the city, a location reminiscent of the initial outbreak of the virus in the Wuhan city's fish and seafood market. The Chinese National Health Council said at least 36 cases were discovered in the capital last day.
A general closure was announced throughout the capital and the areas adjacent to the Shinpadi Wholesale Market in the eastern capital were closed to traffic altogether. Yesterday it was reported that six workers in the market were infected with the virus as well as two market visitors. Hundreds of corona tests performed on the market island and its employees revealed another 45 asymptomatic cases of infection.
Meanwhile, flights from the southern city of Changdu to the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka were halted this morning after four passengers arriving in China from Bangladesh were discovered to be blue in Corona. Flights were canceled for four weeks. The affected flight passengers were taken to quarantine and watching.
While official figures remain very low in the West, China's authorities are hiding much higher numbers. Fear of a second wave in China has prompted state authorities to take stringent measures.
Cho Junway, Beijing's Pangayan County Commissioner, said in a briefing yesterday that "the province is in emergency" after 45 of the 517 wholesale-day tests in the wholesale market returned positive to Corona, though none of the new carriers developed Symptoms of virus. Beijing City Council told Reuters agency they decided to immediately freeze inter-provincial sports and tourism events. As part of the measures to curb the new outbreak, curfew has been imposed on 11 neighborhoods in the market.
Fang Xinghu, a senior official in Beijing's local government, said "preliminary information indicates that market contagious people may have come into contact with a contaminated area in the market, or have been infected after being in contact with infected people. We cannot rule out the presence of other carriers in the area." .
Beijing's major supermarkets have taken salmon fish off the shelves after signs of the virus were found on the cutting boards used for imported salmon in the wholesale market during the night. According to the Beijing authorities, they intend to conduct more than ten thousand corona tests for traders and market visitors.
