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December 28, 2020

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Beijing in 鈥榚mergency鈥 mode amid reports of COVID-19 cases

Source: Agencies | 00:05 UTC+8 December 28, 2020 | Print Edition

Beijing has tightened COVID-19 curbs over concerns that China’s mass travel during the holiday period could cause cases to spike in the capital, as it reported locally transmitted cases for a fourth straight day yesterday.

A meeting led by the capital’s Party chief, Cai Qi, urged all districts in Beijing to enter an “emergency” mode, sealing off residential compounds and villages where infections are found.

China’s southern technology hub of Shenzhen reported one asymptomatic case yesterday, a patient who made two business trips to Beijing this month.

Shunyi District, where all Beijing’s recent coronavirus cases have been reported, has declared a wartime mode and testing for all its 800,000 people.

The city’s health commission said all of the five new locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday live in Shunyi, of whom four work in an industrial park and one is a staff member of a supermarket in the district. The 40-year-old asymptomatic case is a taxi driver living in the district. The cases are all close contacts of the confirmed cases reported previously.

Two villages in Shunyi have upgraded the risk level to medium and been sealed off as a result.

Chaoyang District, which neighbors Shunyi, has finished testing 234,413 people in three neighborhoods, with none testing positive. People who have not received their test results are not allowed to go out, the district government said. Some residential compounds in Tongzhou District have reimposed temperature checks upon entry and the number of entrances have been reduced, according to local media reports.

Beijing has urged its civil servants to stay in the city from January 1 until the Spring Festival holiday and asked the public to avoid unnecessary travel during the period.

The government canceled big gatherings such as sports events and temple fairs. It says applications will be strictly reviewed for any major events. Venues such as cinemas, libraries and museums have to operate at 75 percent capacity, the government said. It also called on companies not to arrange business trips outside the city and abroad.

Separately, northeast China’s Liaoning Province on Saturday reported seven confirmed COVID-19 cases and three asymptomatic cases, all locally transmitted, the provincial health commission said yesterday.

Four of the new confirmed cases were identified in the port city of Dalian, while three others were in Shenyang, the provincial capital.

China has largely brought the coronavirus under control but sporadic cases are resurfacing in a small number of cities and the majority of new cases are travelers from abroad.

China’s aviation regulator said yesterday that the suspension of flights to and from the United Kingdom would last until January 10. The regulator’s announcement came after the foreign ministry said China would suspend United Kingdom flights over fears of a new strain of the coronavirus.

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