Building hit by measles cases, officials say it's under control

An outbreak of measles was found in a commercial building in downtown Beijing this week and is now under control after being disinfected, the Beijing disease control authorities said Wednesday.

A total of 23 people at the Kaiheng Center in the busy Dongcheng district were found to have contracted measles. The Beijing Center for Diseases Prevention and Control said it quarantined the victims, disinfected the site and vaccinated 3,462 people in the building, immediately after receiving a measles report on January 22, a statement of the disease control center said.

The statement added that there have been no new measles infection reports since Monday.

A man who on Monday visited the building, which is a Bank of China branch, told the Global Times that some staff members inside the building were asked to be vaccinated that day but not the visitors.

Rumors posted online said the whole building was sealed when the outbreak occurred but workers at the Kaiheng Center denied it and said the incident was not that serious and did not affect regular business operations.

Measles is a highly contagious viral infection of the respiratory system. It spreads easily in crowded and poorly ventilated places.