Beijing in ‘Wartime Mode’ to Contain New Virus Outbreak
Monday, 15 June 2020 07:45
Several districts of the Chinese capital put up security checkpoints, closed schools and ordered people to be tested for the coronavirus on Monday after an unexpected spike of cases linked to the biggest wholesale food market in Asia.
After nearly two months with no new infections, Beijing officials have reported 79 cases over the past four days, the city’s biggest cluster of infections since February.
The return of the coronavirus has shrouded Beijing, home to the headquarters of many big corporations, in uncertainty at a time when China is trying to shake off the economic torpor caused by the disease.
“The containment efforts have rapidly entered into a wartime mode,” senior city government official Xu Ying told a news conference.
Xu said 7,200 neighbourhoods and nearly 100,000 epidemic-control workers had entered the “battlefield.”
The outbreak has been traced to the sprawling Xinfadi market where thousands of tons of vegetables, fruits and meat change hands each day.
A complex of warehouses and trading halls spanning an area the size of nearly 160 soccer fields, Xinfadi is more than 20 times larger than the seafood market in the city of Wuhan where the outbreak was first identified.
The new cases have led to officials in many parts of Beijing reimposing tough measures to stifle the spread of the virus, including around-the-clock security checkpoints, closing schools and sports venues and reinstating temperature checks at malls, supermarkets and offices.
Beijing residents were also advised to avoid crowds and gathering in groups for meals.
Some districts even sent officials to residential compounds in what they described as a “knock, knock” operation to identify people who had visited Xinfadi or been in contact with people who had.
None of Beijing’s 16 districts have been hit by a blanket lockdown.
But access to the neighbourhoods of the people who were infected have been blocked as nucleic acid tests are being administered to residents.
The 11 neighbourhoods around Xinfadi and 10 others near another market have also been sealed as 90,000 residents undergo tests.
Beijing began mass testing on Sunday.
From Europe?
The World Health Organization said on Sunday it was informed of the outbreak and an investigation by Chinese officials.
“WHO understands that genetic sequences will be released as soon as possible once further laboratory analyses are completed,” it said in a statement.
Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, when asked whether China had shared data with the WHO about the cluster, told reporters he was not aware of the specifics but China and the WHO were in close communication.
An epidemiologist with the Beijing government said on Sunday a DNA sequencing of the virus showed the Xinfadi outbreak could have come from Europe.
“The pattern of mutation and transmission of the new coronavirus is not yet fully understood, and with the epidemic still spreading overseas, the situation in the capital is very severe,” said Xu Hejian, spokesman for the Beijing city government, told a news conference.
Governments in other parts of China warned residents against non-essential travel to the capital, and implemented isolation protocols for visitors from Beijing.
Wang Xiaoyang, who works in public relations in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, said she got a text message from authorities telling her to stay at home for 14 days after returning from Beijing on Friday.
The northeastern province of Liaoning and Hebei in the north reported a handful of cases linked to the Beijing cluster. Sichuan in the southwest reported one suspected case.
Baoding, an industrialised city southwest of Beijing, was closely monitoring people arriving.
“Every gate to Baoding should be strictly guarded to prevent the contagion from spreading,” state media quoted officials as saying.
© 2020 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.
IN THE NAME OF GOD.AMEN####################################################################Index Librorum ProhibitorumI wear the chain I forged in life.
How short the list one could compile of those of whom it can be said that fame and money did not deprave?
IL MIGLIOR FABBRO
At Washington, capital city of the terminally self-absorbed, mortal man holds to fleeting, feeble and fallible opinion, God immutable fact.
- At Washington, capital city of the terminally self-absorbed, mortal man holds to fleeting, feeble and fallible opinion, God immutable fact.
Rejoice and Glad!!
~~
Amen~~
~The Original Angry Bird~~The Catholic University of America Screaming Red Cardinal Mascot~~http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=122865699&trk=tab_pro
http://www.facebook.com/JohnDanielBeggPublicAffairs http://www.tumblr.com/blog/theoldsoldiershome1952http://www.facebook.com/john.begg.33
http://www.pinterest.com/johnbegg33/boards/
http://independent.academia.edu/johnbegg/Papers?s=nav#add
http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/jtdbegg
Tweets: @jtdbegg
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=122865699&trk=hb_tab_pro_top“Jean-Marie Le Pen is a friend. He is dangerous for the political set because he’s the only one who’s sincere. He says out loud what many people think deep down, and what the politicians refrain from saying because they are either too demagogic or too chicken. Le Pen, with all his faults and qualities, is probably the only one who thinks about the interests of France before his own.”~~Alain Delon~~Actor
John Daniel Begg raises cotton.
~~
In the Old South, the real Southland, we had a charming expression, when asked what an idle man did for a living:
~~
“Oh, he raises cotton.”~~
CONCEPT OF THE CATHOLIC AND ROYAL ARMY OF AMERICA (CRAA)
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Motto:
~~
Deus Lux Mea Est
~~
Acta Est Fabula
The escape concludes…
The Catholic University Of America, Washington, The Federal District of Columbia.
1976, Anno Domini Nostri Iesu Christi.
“Who first seduc'd them to that foul revolt? Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd The Mother of All Mankind" ~~ Paradise Lost Book One Verse 35 Our Mr Milton https://johndanielbegg.com/2016/03/09/the-infernal-serpent-he-it-was-whose-guile--stirred-up-with-envy-and-revenge-deceived-the-mother-of-mankindHow short the list one could compile of those of whom it can be said that fame and money did not deprave?Acta Est Fabula.
~~
Deus Vult.
Ne plus ultra
Our Ubiquitous Presence
~~
Our Queen
Our Queen now 68 years on
~~
Simply the best President we could ever hope to have.
Regina ~ Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi
May, 1963– Steve McQueen tooling around LA in his Jaguar XK-SS. — Photograph by © John Dominis/ Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images. Local legend holds that at least one L.A. law-enforcement agency had promised its officers that an “expensive steak dinner” awaited the guy who could nail McQueen and the Jag with a speeding ticket. The tale continues that, while he was spotted often and even pursued a time or two, he was never caught and never written. The steak dinner went unclaimed. Another story refutes the entire affair, alleging that McQueen was so awash in speeding tickets he nearly lost his license.
May, 1963– Steve McQueen driving his Jaguar XK-SS down Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, California. — Photograph by © John Dominis/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Washington, DC, USA
JOHN DANIEL BEGG 