A worker wearing a protective suit swabs a woman's throat for a COVID-19 test at a testing site after authorities ordered a third round of three consecutive coronavirus tests for residents in the Chaoyang district of Beijing, Saturday, May 7, 2022. (Photo: AP)

Beijing reported 78 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases between 3 pm Friday and 3 pm Saturday, local authorities said on Saturday.

Eight of the new cases were found by community-level screening, deputy head of the Beijing Municipal Disease Prevention and Control Center Pang Xinghuo said at a media conference.

Epidemiological investigation and gene sequencing indicate that there are two independent transmission chains in Beijing, added Pang. "One is transmitted in Chaoyang district with a total of 675 cases; the other is related to Fengtai Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, with 12 cases."

"Two areas in Tongzhou district were upgraded from medium-risk areas for COVID-19 to high-risk areas, and four areas in Tongzhou district and two areas in Fangshan district were upgraded from low-risk areas to medium-risk areas," said Pang. Beijing now has 20 high-risk areas and 34 medium-risk areas.

Five districts in Beijing, including Dongcheng, Chaoyang, Haidian, Fengtai and Fangshan, and other areas with reported cases since April 25 will continue to carry out three rounds of regional nucleic acid screening. "Hidden sources of infection still exist, and the spread of the infections has not been completely stopped," Pang said.

(Compiled by Zhang Kun)