More Covid-19 outbreaks are likely as the pandemic has yet to be contained but experts say they will be brought under control quickly.

Expert: Health professionals experienced enough to suppress them

More Covid-19 outbreaks in China similar to the ongoing one in Beijing are likely because the pandemic has yet to be contained globally, but they will be brought under control quickly, says a senior public health expert.

“With the massive global pandemic going on, it is very natural that the outbreak occurred in Beijing. It would be no surprise if a similar outbreak happened accidentally in another area in China,” said Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

“However, I am confident that such local outbreaks will be effectively suppressed once they are identified, as we have experience in epidemic control in Wuhan and competent public health professionals.”

As of Wednesday, the outbreak in Beijing, which is linked with a major wholesale food market in the city, had resulted in 329 confirmed cases over the past three weeks.

The outbreak has been brought under control, with just one new confirmed case reported on Wednesday.

Before the outbreak, Beijing had reported no new domestically transmitted cases of Covid-19 for 56 days.

In a report published last week, China’s CDC said the virus strain that caused the outbreak in Beijing originated in Europe, based on genetic analysis of virus samples collected from the Xinfadi wholesale food market.

Gao said the virus that caused the outbreak was likely carried to Beijing from overseas via contaminated products shipped to the market or by an infected person, with the latter scenario much more probable.

“An asymptomatic case may have entered China via air or land and ended up in Beijing,” he said.

“The person may have visited Xinfadi and caused the spread of the virus there.

“The virus may also have been spread by meat vendors in the market, who became infected while transporting goods from other areas.”

Vaccines would be a major weapon to bring the pandemic under control, but Gao said people should not be too optimistic about the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines, even though research and development is progressing rapidly.

Four of the five candidate vaccines under development in China have been put into clinical trials, he said. —