Beijing carries out nucleic acid tests on 356,000 people

An epidemic-control official in Beijing said Wednesday that the capital has tested about 356,000 inhabitants since Saturday, after more than 100 locally-transmitted COVID-19 cases were spotted in the city.

Zhang Qiang, a member of the city's epidemic-control office who oversees nucleic acid testing efforts, said those tested include workers at the sprawling Xinfadi food wholesale market in southern Beijing, where an employee was confirmed infected on Sunday, as well as residents living in nearby residential communities and people who had traveled near the region.

Currently, the city is testing an average of 400,000 people a day, and plans to step up testing capacity, Zhang said at a news conference in Beijing.

Local authorities issued a circular on Tuesday, asking residents to make reservations before going to testing sites to avoid crowded conditions and possible infections.

The circular said some of the city's testing sites were found to be crowded over the past few days, jeopardizing public health, as well as straining testing efforts.

Pang Xinghuo, deputy head of the Beijing Center for Diseases Prevention and Control, said the number of new infections is expected to rise further in the coming days, given that the Xinfadi was the largest produce market with large flows of people.

He said the initial analysis has found that the recent outbreak was triggered by food contaminated by the novel coronavirus that spread through human contacts.

Non-critical cases account for 95 percent of all new infections, and all are related to the market, Pang added.