Beijing COVID-19 cases reach 106, mass testing of nearly 90,000 people underway
Beijing: The COVID-19 cases in Beijing have jumped to 106, a senior city official said on Tuesday, warning that the situation is "extremely severe" in China's capital where the authorities have mounted massive containment measures including mass testing of about 90,000 people and lockdown around the wholesale market which reported the new infections.
Twenty-seven new cases were reported in the last 22 hours, Beijing city spokesman Xu Hejian said, adding that strict measures have been implemented to stem the spread of the deadly virus.
Since the outbreak at the Xinfadi wholesale market in the last five days, the total confirmed new cases have reached 106, he said.
The official, who is also deputy minister of the Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department, said the epidemic situation in Beijing remained "extremely severe".
"This is our top priority. We have to strictly implement all the measures and seize every minute," he said.
Earlier, China's National Health Commission (NHC) reported 46 new coronavirus cases including 27 in Beijing, which is currently testing thousands of people and lockdown many residential areas following a sudden spurt of a cluster of cases from a local wholesale market.
The NHC on Tuesday reported 40 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday of which 27 were reported in Beijing, four in Hebei Province, and one in Sichuan Province.
Also on Monday, six new asymptomatic cases were reported. As on Monday 110 asymptomatic cases were under quarantine, NHC said. Officials said Beijing was facing "explosive outbreak" of the coronavirus.
Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist with the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily on Monday afternoon that the situation was very serious.
"Beijing is facing explosive and concentrated outbreaks even though the national epidemic has basically been blocked. The fact that it happened in Xinfadi, a large wholesale market, is a challenge in itself as we try to carry out epidemiological investigations," Wu said.
Authorities have locked down 21 residential estates in Fengtai and the northern district of Haidian, which is also home to a big food market. Access to the areas is strictly controlled and mass coronavirus testing is underway.
After reporting zero new cases of the coronavirus infections for 56 consecutive days, Beijing reported 79 cases related to Xinfadi - a large wholesale food market - between Thursday and Sunday including one critically ill patient and two severely ill, as the official data showed, state-run Global Times reported.
"The resurgence of cases sounded the alarm to us, with Xinfadi being a large food market that supplies a large proportion of Beijing's fresh vegetables, recording a high level of daily traffic, which is part of the reason behind such a severe situation," Wang Peiyu, deputy head of Peking University's School of Public Health said.
In a bid to stem the spread of the contagion, the authorities in Beijing started conducting the nucleic acid tests on 90,000 people. About two lakh people were reported to have visited the Xinfadi wholesale market since May 30. Also several residential areas around the market, which supplies 90 per cent of vegetables and meat products, were placed under strict lockdown.
Beijing sacked two officials in Fengtai district - Zhou Yuqing, deputy head of the Fengtai district government, and Wang Hua, Party secretary of Huaxiang Township in Fengtai - for misconduct in office during epidemic prevention and control.
Zhang Yuelin was also ordered to be removed from the post of general manager of the Xinfadi wholesale market, the official media reported.
Also, the official media here revived the debate about the origin of the coronavirus after Yang Peng, a researcher from Beijing CDC, told state-run CCTV that it has been preliminarily determined that the virus found on the samples from the market is related to strains China has seen from imported cases.
The genome sequencing showed that the coronavirus came from Europe. Thousands of overseas Chinese are currently returning with a number of them testing positive for the coronavirus.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), which was blamed for supporting China since the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan in December last, however, said the strain of the virus circulating at the Xinfadi market is not new.
Gene sequencing for the first case was reported as belonging to the European strain, which has been circulating in China and other countries, the WHO statement said.
The WHO also said it sought a report from China on the new cluster of cases in Beijing while its officials have not yet visited the area.
"We have asked China for the genetic sequencing and to receive new data on the epidemic as the investigation unfolds; and our counterparts are committed to continuing to provide such data. WHO is following up with Chinese officials for further detail," a WHO statement said.
The NHC said as of Monday, the overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 83,221, including 210 patients who were still being treated, with five in severe condition.
Altogether 78,377 people have been discharged after recovery and 4,634 people have died of the disease, the commission said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
