Beijing district in ‘wartime emergency’

Beijing

A Beijing district put itself on a “wartime” footing and the capital banned tourism and sports events yesterday after a cluster of novel coronavirus infections centred around a major wholesale market sparked fears of a new wave of COVID-19. Forty-five people out of 517 tested with throat swabs at the Xinfadi market in the city’s southwestern Fengtai district had tested positive for the coronavirus, Chu Junwei, a district official, told a briefing.

None were showing symptoms of COVID-19, he said, but added that 11 neighbourhoods in the vicinity of the market, which claims to be the largest agricultural wholesale market in Asia, had been locked down with 24-hour guards put in place.