Handful of new coronavirus cases reported in Beijing

Beijing reported one new local case of COVID-19 related to Dalian, Liaoning province, which has experienced an outbreak in recent days. One new imported case was also reported on Monday in the capital, according to the Beijing Municipal Health Commission on Tuesday morning.

Pang Xinghuo, deputy head of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, gave details of the two cases at a news conference on Tuesday.

The local case involves a 53-year-old female from Anhui province who came to Beijing on July 14 to visit her daughter. She stayed at her daughter's home in Changping district.

Contact tracers found that the woman had traveled to Jinzhou, Liaoning, on July 16 by train and had a dinner with an asymptomatic coronavirus carrier surnamed Gao, who came from Dalian.

The woman traveled back to Beijing on July 19 and stayed at her daughter's home from July 20 to 23.

On Friday she was transferred to a centralized quarantine center for observation, and she was taken to the hospital on Sunday after her body temperature rose to 37.4 C. She was confirmed with COVID-19 on Monday.

The imported case involves a 63-year-old male from Indonesia. He flew from Jakarta to Hong Kong and then to Beijing on Sunday. He was quarantined upon arrival, as he was coughing. On Monday, he tested positive and he was hospitalized.

Xu Hejian, spokesman for Beijing's municipal government, said at the news conference that the new cases are alarming and that the authorities will strictly control local risks.

No other cases were reported on Monday.

From June 11 to July 27, the city reported 335 confirmed local transmission related to Beijing's Xinfadi wholesale market in Fengtai district. Of those, 25 patients remain hospitalized; 310 were discharged from the hospital after recovery.

Until Monday, Beijing had not identified a local case for 22 consecutive days.