Beijing has ‘learned from Wuhan’ in tackling market coronavirus cluster

Chinese experts say the response has been fast and effective, and the situation is controllable

They say measures including extensive testing and contact tracing have been taken and a blanket lockdown is not needed

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Workers disinfect the Yuegezhuang wholesale market in Beijing on Tuesday amid a fresh outbreak of coronavirus cases. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:15pm, 17 Jun 2020Updated: 11:44pm, 17 Jun 2020

The response to Beijing’s latest coronavirus outbreak – unlike the blanket lockdown in Wuhan – has been fast and effective, and the situation is controllable, according to Chinese experts.

Beijing has reimposed measures to contain the virus after a cluster of cases emerged from the city’s largest wholesale food market last week.

There are 137 cases linked to the Xinfadi market and the Chinese capital raised its emergency response to the second-highest level on Tuesday night, five days after the new outbreak was reported.

Residents of “medium- or high-risk” areas are banned from leaving Beijing, while others have to provide a negative nucleic acid test result from the previous seven days if they want to leave the city.

Across Beijing, people have to go through a temperature check, display a QR code on their phones to show they are not ill and provide an entry pass before they can go into a residential compound.

Those measures were announced by Chen Bei, deputy secretary general of the Beijing municipal government, on Tuesday night.