Beijing virus cases under control, caseload expected to grow: Top doctor

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 cases in Beijing has been brought under control, but the caseload will continue to grow for some time, said top epidemiologist Wu Zunyou on Thursday.

Wu, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told a news conference in Beijing that the tally of locally-transmitted cases will continue to emerge in the coming days, but the number of cases will decrease over time.

The newly-added cases were just new confirmations, not new infections, he said, adding that new infections would be just sporadic.

The remarks came as Beijing municipal government works to contain a recent outbreak of COVID-19 cases that were traced back to the sprawling Xinfadi wholesale produce market in southern Beijing.

Wu said the initial analysis of the confirmed cases in Beijing over the past few days showed that in terms of quantity, infected seafood vendors outnumbered vendors at beef, mutton and other sections, he said.

Also, seafood vendors tend to show COVID-19 symptoms earlier than other workers, he added.

The trading facility that contained the seafood section also was found to be more contaminated by the novel coronavirus, Wu said, citing findings of environmental sampling.

One of the possible reasons is that the freezing and humid environment in the seafood section might have contributed to preserving the virus.

But more analysis is needed to determine how the new outbreak was triggered at the market, he said.

Wu said the recent cases in Beijing, as well as sporadic infections across the country, are within expectations given the global spread of the virus.

He praised Beijing for the city's quick response in pinpointing the source of infection and taking measures to halt the spread of the outbreak.

Without the timely response, Beijing could have seen a worse outbreak than that seen in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province earlier this year, he added.