Beijing to enter 'fast track' mode to contain coronavirus
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The virus had reemerged in the city two weeks ago from a local food market
As China’s capital city Beijing continues to report new cases of coronavirus, the city is set to enter a “fast track” testing mode.
The virus had reemerged in the city two weeks ago from a local food market. Analysts believed that the virus came from a chopping board, infecting those who ate anything touching that board, and further those who set off a chain of contact.
Last week, the city’s municipal health officials had claimed to soon being able to possess the ability to be able to test 1 million people everyday.
The Chinese capital city is home to 20 million people, and is the new hotspot of the virus, after two months of inactivity.
Just between June 12 and June 22, Beijing had tested 2.95 million people.
"The strategy of Beijing's nucleic acid screening is mainly based on the level of risk and on severity," Zhang, a health body official said.
However, not everyone in the city will be tested. Those at higher risk and in risk zones will be the most aggressively tested subjects.
"We'll give priority to testing high-risk groups in Xinfadi and other markets involved in the outbreak as well as surrounding communities," Zhang said.
"On this basis, we've tested workers in restaurants, supermarkets, marketplaces, as well as residents in high-risk neighbourhoods. Food delivery workers and parcel couriers have also undergone large-scale testing”, Zhang added.
Over the 12 days since, 249 people have been infected in Beijing. This marks the worst coronavirus-related incident in the city since the infection began in Wuhan earlier.
As of now, the city can test 300,000 people everyday. This is way higher than 40,000 in March.
(With inputs from Reuters)