13 new confirmed coronavirus cases found in Beijing

Beijing reported 13 new confirmed domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the municipal health commission said.

From June 11 to 24, Beijing reported 269 confirmed domestically transmitted cases, all of whom are receiving treatment, the commission said in a daily report on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Beijing jiankangbao, a web-based tool that shows one's epidemic-control related health status with a color-coding system, has been upgraded, said Pan Feng, deputy director of the capital's Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, at the news conference. The new version includes a scanning function, which can be applied in venues such as office buildings, restaurants and shopping areas.

The code has never been used to collect personal location information. It is only used to analyze multiple-source data backstage to present people's health situations, Pan said.

Separately, four people have been detained and five are under investigation for illegally arranging nucleic acid tests in Beijing, according to Pan Xuhong, deputy head and spokesperson of the municipal public security bureau.

Beijing has made it clear that people traveling out of the city should present a negative nucleic acid test certificate within seven days to curb the spread of the epidemic. The gang of nine people, led by a bar manager, was found to be advertising "expedited" nucleic acid testing services on social media platforms.

Daily new COVID-19 patients in the current coronavirus outbreak in Beijing are expected to drop below 10 by the end of this month and to zero in mid-or late July, thanks to timely and decisive control measures, said Zhang Boli, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of the Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Because of early detection, isolation and treatment, more than 90 percent of the patients have minor symptoms. Those with serious symptoms are expected to have a positive prognosis, he said, cited by Health Times on Thursday.

The cluster outbreak has sent a warning that the epidemic should not be taken lightly and that the resumption of work should be carried out in an orderly fashion, Zhang said.

He added that there is no need to panic, but the public is advised to stick to the previous successful codes of conduct, including wearing masks, washing hands, ventilating rooms and avoiding large gatherings.

He Qi contributed to this story.