Beijing added another COVID-19 medium-risk area on Monday, bringing the number of medium-risk areas in the city to nine, a local health official said Monday.
Lianzhuang Village in Shunyi District was upgraded to a medium-risk region starting Monday, Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing center for disease control and prevention, told a press briefing. Of the nine medium-risk areas, eight are in Shunyi District and one is in Chaoyang District, she said.
Beijing reported two locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and five asymptomatic cases on Saturday and Sunday, all from the same family in Lianzhuang Village of Shunyi District.
After a whole-genome sequencing, it was determined that the infections are more likely to have the same infection source as the latest cases in the district, Pang told reporters, adding that there is no obvious link to the current outbreak in Hebei Province.
Zhi Xianwei, executive deputy head of the Shunyi district government, said that of the 432 close contacts of the family, those in Shunyi have been put under quarantine in designated places. The district government has also notified the authorities of the regions where the other close contacts live, Zhi said.
"A timely, comprehensive and authentic epidemiological survey is key to victory in the fight against the epidemic," said Zhi.
The man who was confirmed positive on Jan. 9 concealed his travel itinerary and refused to cooperate with the health authorities in the epidemiological survey, according to Zhi.
He called on all residents of Shunyi to fulfill their anti-epidemic responsibilities and go to nucleic acid testing sites for testing.
