With 15 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Beijing on Saturday, the capital city has taken swift and strict measures, including organizing nucleic acid tests in key groups, and taking partial closed-off management and suspending classes in the areas and a school that spotted the cases.
As transmissions in residential communities continue for a week, Beijing authorities warned of a high risk of continuous infections. The key for Beijing to put this flare-up under control is to figure out the transmission routes and quickly cut them in communities, experts said, noting that it is less possible to see Shanghai's situation reappear in Beijing with swift and comprehensive measures.
Among the 15 new cases on Saturday, 12 are in Chaoyang district, nine of whom are students from a middle school, two in Shunyi district and one in Fangshan district. Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing municipal disease prevention and control center, said that since April 22, 20 confirmed cases have been found in Beijing.
The middle school that reported confirmed cases on Saturday has suspended classes with faculty and students required to stay indoors to have nucleic acid tests. Close contacts of the cases are under medical observation.
Schools in Chaoyang district are required to take three sweeping nucleic acid tests within a week. Another school in Fangshan district where the children of a confirmed case studied has been under closed-off management and all the students and teachers have received nucleic acid tests. The district also ordered the cancelation of offline training classes or group activities of students.
