Starting at midnight on Saturday, people from low-risk areas of Beijing will no longer be required to hold a negative nucleic acid test certificate. At the same time, the Beijing police said that they would seriously enforce the rules and hold accountable people who ignore pandemic prevention regulations, hide their history of activities in Xinfadi market, hide a history of close contact with COVID-19 patients, or violate the regulations on quarantining at home.
A medical staff member takes a throat swab sample from a man at a newly-adopted mobile testing vehicle in Xicheng District of Beijing, capital of China, June 28, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua)
An official policy dubbed "Leave no one in need untested" will continue, and tens of millions of people will complete the test. After the completion of the "exhaustive inspection,” Beijing will continue to provide citizens with regular inspection services. As of midnight on July 2, Beijing has collected a total of 10.414 million nucleic acid samples since the start of the most recent outbreak, and 10.059 million of these tests had been completed by labs. A total of 172 confirmed cases were detected, accounting for 52 percent of the total number of confirmed cases in the recent outbreak.
Xinfadi market has been strictly sterilized, and hazardous materials have been disposed of. Under the joint guidance of experts, Fengtai district has formulated a detailed disinfection work plan for the Xinfadi market, with a cumulative disinfection area of 14.12 million square meters. As of July 3, a total of 782.74 tons of hazardous materials such as meat, aquatic products and soy products were removed from the market, along with 16,000 tons of fruit and vegetable.
On July 2, Beijing newly reported two locally confirmed cases. New cases in Beijing have been in single digits for five consecutive days, with three or fewer cases over the past three days. The areas effected by the outbreak are all clearly related to the Xinfadi market. The pandemic has not lead to community spread.
(Compiled by Deng Jiahuan)