BEIJING - The Chinese capital on Sunday declared an area surrounding a wholesale market"high risk" after dozens of new coronavirus cases emerged, sparking fears of a second wave of infections in the city.
Many of them were people who had visited the market or were close contacts of those who did, Beijing authorities said, adding that 11 infected people live in the same neighbourhood. The government has also declared Fengtai, the area where the market is located, to be a high risk area. The move harks back to lockdowns enforced in much of China earlier this year when the outbreak was in full swing. Much of the domestic situation has come under control through the strict enforcement of such shut ins, but pockets of cases have continue to surface.
That the recent outbreak started in a market has also sparked fresh concerns about hygiene and food safety, especially after traces of the coronavirus were found on a cutting board used for imported salmon at the market. Genetic sequencing of the virus has shown that it came from Europe, according to an expert from the Beijing CDC.
The virus first surfaced late last year at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Centre, a market in central China's Wuhan, where workers were among the earliest cases.