Beijing's health authorities on Sunday reported 36 new coronavirus infections, all traced to a local wholesale market where a new outbreak has been discovered, triggering the re-imposition of lockdown measures.
Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing center for disease control and prevention, said at a press conference that each case either worked at Xinfadi market or had direct or indirect exposure to it, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
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The sprawling market, which has some 4,000 tenants selling fruits, vegetables and meat, was closed Saturday after 45 workers tested positive for the virus.
Nearby residential areas were also locked down and movement restrictions have been re-imposed across the capital.
An official of the city's Fengtai district where the market is located said Saturday that the entire district has been put into "wartime emergency mode."
The city on Friday reported six new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and one case the day before.
The latest outbreak comes after Beijing lowered its emergency response to COVID-19 from the second level posture to the third level on June 6.
Also Sunday, the National Health Commission reported two new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the northeastern province of Liaoning. Both are close contacts of confirmed cases reported Friday in Beijing, stoking fears of a new wave of infections.
Liaoning cautioned people against going to Beijing and also decided to quarantine people from some areas of the capital for 14 days.
Besides the 38 domestically transmitted cases, the commission also said 19 cases imported from abroad were detected in the 24 hours to the end of Saturday. The total 57 cases marks the country's highest daily increase in newly confirmed COVID-19 infections since April 13.
