Beijing says fresh outbreak in capital under control

By Javier García

Beijing, Jun 18 (efe-epa).- A new coronavirus outbreak that emerged at one of Beijing’s food markets has been brought under control, a top epidemiologist said Thursday.

The city remains in a state of alert, with tough restrictions in place and widespread testing underway, but the infection curve in the wake of a localized resurgence of Covid-19 has been flattened.

Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the number of new cases had dropped by 10 between Wednesday and Thursday.

On Tuesday he said that the following 48 hours would be crucial in containing the fresh outbreak.

Authorities reported 36 infections on Monday, the highest in Beijing even during the height of the outbreak, 31 on Tuesday and the same on Wednesday, which fell to 21 on Thursday.

“In the coming days we will continue to see new confirmed cases but the transmission of the virus is under control so the curve will gradually flatten. The outbreak is under control,” Wu said at a press conference in Beijing.

He said that fresh outbreaks, such as this one which has seen 158 new ??cases in the capital, were to be expected.

“This does not mean that as of tomorrow the cases will decrease dramatically, the curve will gradually decrease,” he added.

He said there will be further “sporadic” infections but that the peak of transmissions was reached on 13 June.

The expert added that the origin of the outbreak was related to the storage of shellfish in markets at low temperatures and in humid conditions.