Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – China re-imposed a tight lockdown on nearly half a million people in the Bamboo Curtain country capital, Beijing, Sunday (6/28/2020). This was to prevent the spread of the new corona virus Covid-19.
After China managed to control the virus, most of its territory was re-infected in Beijing and new cases emerged in Beijing’s neighboring province, Hebei.
Health officials said the Anxin region (about 150 kilometers from Beijing) would be completely locked down and controlled. These are the same strict measures implemented at the height of the pandemic in Wuhan city earlier this year.
According to the local district epidemic prevention task force, currently only one person from each family will be allowed to leave once a day. And that was only to buy necessities such as food and medicine.
Previously, the area had imposed some travel restrictions, but now individuals are only allowed to leave their homes to seek medical care.
The move comes after 14 Covid-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours in Beijing, bringing the total to 311 since mid-June.
This outbreak was first detected in the Xinfadi wholesale market in Beijing, which supplies a lot of fresh products. The findings then sparked concerns over the safety of the food supply chain. According to a Xinhua news agency report, businesses in the Anxin area have supplied freshwater fish to the market.
Around 12 new cases of corona virus were found in the area, including 11 related to the Xinfadi market. New cases in Beijing have sparked fears of Covid-II wave II in China.
Beijing has workers in a diverse wholesale market including restaurant workers, middle-class residents, high-risk shipping couriers over the past week. Testing has now been expanded to include all beauty salon employees.
Beijing city official Xu Hejian said there is no room for relaxation. Moreover, city officials have also ordered the public not to leave the city, to close schools and to lockdown dozens of housing complexes to eradicate the virus.
Nevertheless, Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist at the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said that the new outbreak had been controlled.
