Beijing district in 'wartime emergency' after virus cluster at major food market

By Judy Hua and Cate Cadell

 

A security guard wearing a face mask tries to block the camera outside the Jingshen seafood market which has been closed for business after new coronavirus infections were detected, in Beijing, China June 12, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Beijing district put itself on a "wartime" footing and the capital banned tourism and sports events on Saturday after a cluster of novel coronavirus infections centred around a major wholesale market sparked fears of a new wave of COVID-19.

 

Forty-five people out of 517 tested with throat swabs at the Xinfadi market in the city's southwestern Fengtai district had tested positive for the coronavirus, Chu Junwei, a district official, told a briefing.

 

None were showing symptoms of COVID-19, he said, but added that 11 neighbourhoods in the vicinity of the market, which claims to be the largest agricultural wholesale market in Asia, had been locked down with 24-hour guards put in place.

 

"In accordance with the principle of putting the safety of the masses and health first, we have adopted lockdown measures for the Xinfadi market and surrounding neighbourhoods," Chu said.

 

The district is in a "wartime emergency mode," he added.

 

The closure of the market and new restrictions come as concerns grow about a second wave of the pandemic, which has infected more than 7.66 million people worldwide and killed more than 420,000.

 

They also underline how even in countries which have had great success in curbing the spread of the virus, clusters can sometimes easily arise.

 

The entire Xinfadi market was shut down at 3 a.m. on Saturday (1900 GMT on Friday), after two men working at a meat research centre who had recently visited the market were reported to have the virus. It was not immediately clear how they had been infected.

 

On Saturday, market entrances were blocked and police stood guard. Beijing authorities had earlier halted beef and mutton trading at the market and had closed other wholesale markets around the city.

 

They plan for more than 10,000 people at the Xinfadi market to take nucleic acid tests to detect coronavirus infections.

 

According to the Xinfadi website, more than 1,500 tonnes of seafood, 18,000 tonnes of vegetables and 20,000 tonnes of fruit are traded at the market daily.

 

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A city spokesman told the briefing that all six COVID-19 patients confirmed in Beijing on Friday had visited the Xinfadi market. The capital will suspend sports events and tourists from other parts of China, effective immediately, he said.

 

Beijing's Yonghe temple and National Theatre also announced they would close from Saturday, and the city government said it had dropped plans to reopen schools on Monday for students in grades one through three because of the new cases.

 

One person at an agricultural market in the city's northwestern Haidian district also tested positive for the coronavirus, Chu said.

 

Highlighting the new sense of alarm within the city, health authorities visited the home of a Reuters reporter in Beijing's Dongcheng district on Saturday to ask whether she had visited the Xinfadi market, which is 15 km (9 miles) away. They said the visit was part of patrols Dongcheng was conducting.

 

And following reports in state-run newspapers that the coronavirus was discovered on chopping boards used for imported salmon at the market, major supermarkets in Beijing removed salmon from their shelves overnight.

 

That concern also spread to other cities, with a major agricultural wholesale market in Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, saying it would remove salmon products from its shelves from Saturday.

 

In Nanjing, capital of the eastern province of Jiangsu, a local association of restaurants said it would halt the serving of foods containing raw seafood or animal products.

 

Some Beijing residents, including a man shopping at a Carrefour supermarket in Fengtai district, said they were confident authorities had the situation under control.

 

"If I were worried, I wouldn't come here to buy meat. I believe it has been quarantined," said the man, who gave his surname as Zhang.

 

(Reporting by Judy Hua and Cate Cadell in Beijing, Winni Zhou and Andrew Galbraith in Shanghai; Additional reporting by Martin Pollard and Ryan Woo in Beijing; Editing by William Mallard and Edwina Gibbs)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-14

 

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TOT still want chinese tourists, they should be banned permenently

“Beijing Reports New Coronavirus Case After 55 Days of No New Cases“

 

Really? Is coming the second part? 

 

 

Edited June 14, 20206 yr by Tarteso

Beijing said the virus was over, the virus did not listen

Hope they get a handle on it and stop this hot spot!

Can I have my Thailand-China safe travel bubble now, please???   

42 minutes ago, johno49 said:

TOT still want chinese tourists, they should be banned permenently

That´s a very racist comment. How would you feel to be banned from Thailand, just because other people got ill or that your government did something wrong?

1 hour ago, johno49 said:

TOT still want chinese tourists, they should be banned permenently

Nah.. I think they should ban winging Poms & moaning Americans..

56 minutes ago, johno49 said:

TOT still want chinese tourists, they should be banned permenently

I know, the problem shrinks to nothing when you look at America.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/13/beijing-china-new-covid-19-cases-linked-to-food-market

Beijing reimposes lockdown measures after new Covid-19 outbreak

Dozens of domestically transmitted cases at city’s largest wholesale food market prompt move

 

 

Parts of Beijing have reimposed lockdown measures after a cluster of locally transmitted coronavirus cases emerged nearly two months after the Chinese capital appeared to have stamped out the virus.

The outbreak, linked to a major wholesale food market, raised serious questions about the challenges of keeping the disease at bay, even in countries such as China where authoritarian rule allows harsh containment regulations and invasive tracing systems.

The first case in the new outbreak was discovered on Thursday after a 52-year old man tested positive, prompting the district where he lives to raise its risk level to medium.

 

more...

46 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Can I have my Thailand-China safe travel bubble now, please???   

 

no safe travel bubble for you!

1 hour ago, johno49 said:

TOT still want chinese tourists, they should be banned permenently

So far 2 likes and 3 thanks outnumbering the single sad reaction to johno49. What a bigoted lot the forum members are.

no inter province travel allowed, One official said the district was now in “wartime emergency mode”.... only allowed to travel to Thailand

 

Movement restrictions were also brought back across the capital, with sports events suspended, tourism from other parts of the country barred, and plans to reopen primary schools put on hold.

Edited June 14, 20206 yr by Mavideol

https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-fears-second-wave-china-210459572.html

Inspectors took 1,901 samples from meat, surfaces, dustbins, handles and other objects at the market, and said 40 tested positive.

 

should we understand the first one didn't come from the bats ????

3 hours ago, Laza 45 said:

Nah.. I think they should ban winging Poms & moaning Americans..

 

No, just the sick ones!  

The WHO wants a second wave and will get their second wave ! Even if it's only in the newspapers.

 

"None were showing symptoms of COVID-19, he said"

 

No symptoms, no disease, still panic - stupid world we live in !!!

Oh my, there goes the travel bubble pipe dream...

 

7 hours ago, Traubert said:

I know, the problem shrinks to nothing when you look at America.

Where did the virus start , is it the first time , will it be the last ?

Beijing has been doing well over the last few weeks - This started on Friday - All linked to this main market close to the center of Beijing.

 

The first guy that set this off - Cycled to the local fever clink, was not feeling well. Then from there they did contact tracing - It was traced back to a cutting board for salmon (imported salmon) - Latest reported was 36 infections with symptoms. 1 infection asymptomatic - 15 men / 21 females.   All was working at the market (including the first guy)

 

A real bummer all right .....  But lets remember the population ...20 million ....

10 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Beijing district in 'wartime emergency' after virus cluster at major food market

They Had it under Control ,but Guess what It got Lose again . It ain't over till the fat Lady sings. 

It will be a while before she sings. 

2 hours ago, joecoolfrog said:

Where did the virus start , is it the first time , will it be the last ?

Don't ask or you might get an answer you don't like.

Edited June 14, 20206 yr by Traubert

That's p*ssed on Anutins chips .. 

What was that about letting in guests from countries who have it under control ..

next weeks episode returns early... same bat time, same bat signal

 

18 hours ago, MJKT2014 said:

So far 2 likes and 3 thanks outnumbering the single sad reaction to johno49. What a bigoted lot the forum members are.

Only because they don't have an

:" ignore the idiot button" 

22 hours ago, rvaviator said:

Beijing has been doing well over the last few weeks - This started on Friday - All linked to this main market close to the center of Beijing.

 

The first guy that set this off - Cycled to the local fever clink, was not feeling well. Then from there they did contact tracing - It was traced back to a cutting board for salmon (imported salmon) - Latest reported was 36 infections with symptoms. 1 infection asymptomatic - 15 men / 21 females.   All was working at the market (including the first guy)

 

A real bummer all right .....  But lets remember the population ...20 million ....

although the numbers keep climbing and my sister in law is restricted from traveling outside Beijing... they said there was nothing to worry about

A lot of <deleted> coming out of Chinese mouthpieces on social media about how they stopped the virus. 
 

Seems to be actively raging. Chinese wouldn’t report it and try to get ahead of it if it wasn’t serious. 
 

I couldn’t care less and hope it crashes their economy, the liars. 

On 6/14/2020 at 11:07 AM, Traubert said:

I know, the problem shrinks to nothing when you look at America.

Only China can order an emergency and wartime lockdown and get compliance. Not going to happen in the liberal west.