Beijing authorities had previously cut off trade in beef and mutton in the Xinfadi market. (Reuters)
Shanghai:
Beijing authorities have temporarily closed a large wholesale agricultural market following an increase in new locally transmitted coronavirus infections in the Chinese capital in the past two days.
Xinfadi’s wholesale market closed at 3 a.m. local time on Saturday (7 p.m. GMT Friday) came after two men at a meat research center who had recently visited the market were reported Friday as infected with the new coronavirus. It was not immediately known how the men were infected.
There is concern about a second wave of the new virus, even in many countries that appear to have slowed its spread. It was first reported in a seafood market in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, in central China, in December.
Authorities in Beijing had previously cut off trade in beef and mutton in the Xinfadi market, while closing other wholesale markets in the city.
Reflecting concerns over the risk of spreading the virus, major Beijing supermarkets removed salmon from their shelves overnight after the discovery of the virus causing COVID-19 on cutting boards used for imported salmon on the market, reported the state-owned Beijing Youth Daily. .
Authorities in Beijing have said that more than 10,000 people on the market will undergo nucleic acid tests to detect coronavirus infections. The city government also said it had abandoned plans to reopen schools on Monday for students in grades one to three due to the new cases.
Health officials went to the home of a Reuters reporter in Beijing’s Dongcheng district on Saturday to ask if she had visited the Xinfadi market, 9 km (15 km) away. They said the visit was part of the patrols that Dongcheng carried out.
China reported 11 new cases of COVID-19 and seven asymptomatic cases on Friday, the national health authority said on Saturday. And the six locally transmitted cases have been confirmed in Beijing.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
