The recent spike in coronavirus cases in Beijing, China has been linked to a large wholesale market of meat, fruits and vegetables in Fengtai district.
It was confirmed on Sunday that all the new novel coronavirus infections reported in the capital since Thursday, the first in almost two months, are connected to the market.
In response, the Fengtai authorities have declared a “wartime mode” to combat the virus.
In this special period, the market has been closed and 11 neighborhoods in its vicinity have been locked down.
Tracing and testing have been ramped up to follow potential transmission chains from those working at the market and those who have visited it recently.
Speaking at a news conference on Sunday, in which she provided details of the cases, Pang Xinghuo, Deputy Director of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, confirmed that all the new cases reported in the capital till then had been linked to Xinfadi, either working there or having direct or indirect exposure to the market.
The reemergence of the virus in the capital, along with the rising number of imported cases in the country, shows that people cannot relax their vigilance.
The country’s success in controlling the transmission of the virus may have lulled some people into a false sense of security. But the cluster of infections in Beijing should be a reminder that victory has not yet been decisively won.
It has not yet been determined how the virus first gained a hold in the market. But a National Health Commission expert team is assisting the capital’s health authority to deal with the reemergence of the virus, and it is believed the market has offered the experts some food for thought, as the virus was found on the chopping boards in shops selling imported frozen salmon.
This has raised suspicions that the international cold-chain for frozen salmon may have acted as a channel for the virus to be transferred to the market from overseas. Since the fish are not thought to be the original hosts of the virus, that would suggest they were contaminated with the virus somewhere along the route.
However, that is just one possibility. Gene samples of the virus obtained from the market and throat swabs of people tested at the market are being analyzed to see if they are the same strain that appeared in Beijing two months ago, or similar to the one that was found in Harbin and Shulan in the northeast of the country, or the strains prevalent in the United States and Europe.
The results of the analyses are therefore expected to be informative, helping to map out how the virus is being transmitted and if it is mutating.
Meanwhile, although the cluster of infections has naturally sent a frisson of alarm through Beijing, there is certainly no cause for panic.
The authorities’ swift response shows that the lessons have been learned from the fight that has already been waged against the virus. It will not be easy for it to make a comeback in the country if everyone maintains strong vigilance and makes resolute efforts to keep it at bay.
Genome sequencing of the strain of the coronavirus which caused the new COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing at the Xinfadi wholesale food market shows it originated from Europe, an expert from Beijing Center for Diseases Prevention and Control (Beijing CDC) said Sunday.
Yang Peng, a researcher from Beijing CDC told China’s Central Television (CCTV) via telephone interview 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. Genome sequencing showed that the coronavirus came from Europe.
Yang said that the source of the virus is still being traced and it is not known how it entered the market.
There are two main theories as to how the virus got into the market. One is through contaminated seafood and meat imported from abroad which infected those who came into contact with it, Yang said.
The other is through people coming into the market and spread through human secretions such as coughs and sneezes which could also have transferred the virus onto seafood or meat.
Yang said Beijing CDC will now conduct an epidemiological investigation into early and key cases, and will also conduct more tests on the strain of virus found in the Xinfadi cluster.
Beijing’s Fengtai district will conduct nucleic acid tests on more than 46,000 residents living in communities near the Xinfadi market, where a total of 51 confirmed cases in the capital city were traced to, government officials said.
The district has set up 24 nucleic acid testing stations. Currently, 10,881 residents have been tested, district authorities said.
Zhang Jie, a vice head of Fengtai district government, said that 8,186 throat swab samples have been collected from people related to the Xinfadi market and 5,803 samples were tested, all coming back negative.
As of Sunday afternoon, authorities said that 394 close contacts related to the Xinfadi market had been tracked, 242 of whom are from Fengtai district.
At present, 111 people are quarantined in designated places, and the rest are in isolation at home.
