Beijing confirms two new COVID-19 cases

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Beijing confirmed two new COVID-19 cases on June 12 in the city's Fengtai district, both cases being employees from the same workplace, a senior district official revealed.

The two newly added novel coronavirus patients, both Beijing residents and employees at the China Meat Food Integrated Research Centre, tested positive for the coronavirus on June 12 and were sent to designated hospitals for quarantine and further medical treatment, Zhang Jie, deputy district head of Fengtai, disclosed at a news briefing held in Beijing. 

One patient, surnamed Liu, had been to Qingdao, Shandong province on a business trip for five days over the last two weeks but the patient reportedly did not have any close contact with overseas travelers or returnees from Hubei province. 

The other patient, surnamed Yin, also didn't have any contact with inbound travelers or returnees from Hubei province over the past two weeks, according to Zhang. Epidemiological investigations are underway in Fengtai district, Zhang said, adding sampling and screening had been conducted at places where the patients had been previously.

Enclosed management will also be implemented and strengthened at the neighborhood communities and workplaces of the patients, Zhang added. 

The capital had confirmed three new novel coronavirus cases on June 11 and 12, with the first in Xicheng after the capital had reported no new locally transmitted cases for 56 consecutive days. 

One of the two close contacts of the confirmed case in Xicheng is a fourth-grade student, the capital health authority declared. So far, all students and teachers in the class of the fourth-grade student have tested negative for the virus, said Miao Jianhong, deputy director of the capital's Xicheng district.