Beijing’s largest wholesale market has been closed temporarily after it was linked to seven new cases of Covid-19.
Beijing market closed for disinfection to beat virus spread
Xinfadi, the largest wholesale market with fruit, vegetable and meat supplies in Beijing, was suspended for disinfection after personnel working there and the surroundings tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
all personnel who had close contact with the market since May 30 would undergo nucleic acid testing, gao Xiaojun, a spokesman with the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, told a press conference yesterday.
He said the the city now had 98 qualified institutions for nucleic acid testing, with the daily testing capacity exceeding 90,000.
To ensure the market supply, special sections had been set up for sales of vegetables and fruits with closed-off management, according to a statement jointly issued early yesterday by the market regulation bureau and the health commission of the district.
Covering a total area of 112ha, the Xinfadi market has some 1,500 management personnel and more than 4,000 tenants.
Beijing reported six confirmed Covid-19 cases on Friday. Together with another case reported on Thursday, all of them are connected to the market or their close contacts.
Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of Beijing’s Centre for disease Control and Prevention, said yesterday that except for one confirmed patient who went on a business trip to Qingdao, shandong province, the other six patients had no history of being out of the capital or contacting people from Hubei or abroad.
The municipal health authority had also tested 1,940 workers serving at the city’s markets, among which 45 from 517 taken at Xinfadi and one from a market at Haidian district turned out to be positive. These 46 people had no clinical symptoms so far and were under strict observation.
Inbound cargo flights and imported freight would be closely watched and every effort would be made in the investigation and source tracking related to the Xinfadi market, according to officials.