Beijing reports new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases

Chinese capital Beijing has since Wednesday reported two confirmed locally-transmitted cases of COVID-19, the first resurgence in months, local authorities said Thursday.

The infected – a married couple – had traveled to Zhangjiajie, a city known for its pillar-like mountains in Hunan Province, said the municipal health commission of Beijing.

China previously reported some locally-transmitted COVID-19 cases among people who had traveled to Zhangjiajie.

The couple had traveled on several subway lines after returning to Beijing via train on Sunday. The man developed a fever on Monday and tested positive for coronavirus at the fever clinic. The woman was diagnosed after being tested as a companion of the patient, said the commission.

It said authorities had tracked 654 close contacts of the two cases and put them under medical observation. It asked residents who had overlapping travel records to report to authorities.

By Thursday noon, Changping District, where the couple lives, had sampled more than 38,000 people for nucleic acid testing. Over 8,400 samples have shown negative results while the rest are currently being examined, according to Tong Lizhi, deputy head of the district government.

Nine residential compounds, where about 41,000 people live, in Changping, have been put under closed-off management, said Tong.