New COVID-19 case in Beijing is 5-year-old boy

Beijing reported one new local COVID-19 case on Monday, a five-year-old male, said Pang Xinghuo, deputy head of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, at a news conference held on Tuesday.

The child has lunches at a home-based dining restaurant owned by a previously confirmed COVID-19 case, a middle-aged female in Shunyi district, where most cases were found during this round of the cluster outbreak in Beijing.

According to Pang, the child had meals at the restaurant from Dec 28 to 30. He developed a cough on Saturday and was confirmed as a COVID-19 patient on Monday.

"Home-based dining restaurants" are popular in rural areas where migrant workers have no time to take care of their children's' meals during the day. Usually, these "restaurants" are owned by locals who cook in their own kitchen and serve several children home-cooked dishes in their own places.

Zhi Xianwei, the executive deputy head of Shunyi district who spoke at the news conference, said the district will maintain first-level emergency response to the current epidemic situation.

He also mentioned that the authority will strengthen control and prevention measures in the district's rural areas.