Beijing reports new cases, transmission chains

Beijing has reported 25 COVID-19 cases since Sept 29 involving 10 transmission chains in eight districts as of 3 pm Saturday, senior officials said at a news conference on Saturday afternoon.

"The 10 transmission chains are all independent from each other, and three transmission chains have reported zero new cases for at least five days, which means they are under control at present," said Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

The other five transmission chains still have new cases being reported. The other two transmission chains were newly found on Saturday, he said.

Beijing reported five COVID-19 cases on Saturday. Two of them are from quarantined locations, according to Liu.

The other three were found by nucleic acid tests at the community level, including a couple in Xicheng district who returned to Beijing from the United States in late September and got back to their home on Oct 5 after centralized quarantine. The other is a college student who returned from another city to Beijing on Oct 3.

In the past 10 days which included the seven-day National Day holiday which ended on Friday, Beijing has seen several epidemic outbreaks caused by cases from overseas and places outside Beijing in the country, said Xu Hejian, spokesman of the municipal government, at the conference.

He stressed people who return to the capital after holiday trips should strictly follow epidemic control and prevention measures, which can effectively reduce infection risks.

"The ones who failed to follow the measures have added to the difficulty of current epidemic control and prevention work," he said.

The Beijing government has asked residents returning to the capital after the holiday to have a negative nucleic acid test result obtained within 48 hours, as well as a green health code. After arrival, all should take a nucleic acid test twice within three days and should not go to crowded places or dine with others for one week.

The municipal government said people who have traveled outside of Beijing during the seven-day holiday should report their movements to their residential communities in Beijing or to their employer.

Those who work in Beijing should obtain a 48-hour negative nucleic acid test result before returning to their workplaces.