Beijing continues to battle challenging outbreak

Beijing will accelerate the construction and reserves of quarantine facilities and makeshift hospitals during its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the rapidly increasing number of infections in recent days, a senior official said on Friday.

"The new infections in Beijing have been increasing at a high level with a growing number of cases from communities, which has shown a even more complicated and severe epidemic control situation," Xu Hejian, spokesman of the municipality, said at a news conference on Friday.

On Thursday, the city recorded 424 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,436 asymptomatic carriers, according to the capital's health commission.

Beijing will further accelerate the speed of identifying positive cases with a complete mechanism, Xu said. The transfer of positive cases should also be accelerated to reduce infection risks.

"The authority should strengthen management and improve services in makeshift hospitals," he said. "The government will ensure daily supplies sufficient for the public with stable prices."

Between midnight and 3 pm on Friday, Beijing reported 1,119 locally transmitted COVID-19 infections, with 866 of them asymptomatic carriers. Among the total infections, 912 were found in those under quarantine and the remaining 207 were detected at the community level, according to Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

Chaoyang, the hardest-hit district during the ongoing outbreak in the capital, reported 404 infections, among which 89 were found at the community level.

Yang Beibei, deputy head of Chaoyang district, said the district will further reduce social activities and lower the percentage of staff going to workplaces.

Previously, people in Chaoyang were already encouraged not to leave their residential communities when not necessary in order to reduce the risk of infection.