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Coronavirus: Beijing market outbreak investigation zeroes in on seafood stalls
- Top epidemiologist says there are similarities to the situation in Wuhan at the start of the outbreak last year
- Areas where seafood, beef and lamb were sold found to have more traces of the virus than other sections
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Authorities are looking closely at seafood stalls in a market at the centre of a new coronavirus cluster in Beijing, with a top health expert saying there were similarities to the situation in Wuhan at the start of the outbreak last year.
Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, gave details on Thursday of the investigation into the latest cases, most of which have been linked to the Xinfadi wholesale food market.
Until a week ago, the Chinese capital had been free of local transmission for 55 days. But as of Wednesday, there were 158 new cases, according to the official numbers.
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Xinfadi was quickly identified as the centre of the outbreak – the first patient had bought fish there, and they were followed by more cases that had links to the Fengtai district market. Investigators looked at the cases by occupation and date of infection, and the seafood vendors stood out.
“More seafood vendors were infected, followed by beef and lamb vendors,” Wu said. “The seafood vendors also showed symptoms earlier than others.”
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The chief epidemiologist said environmental samples taken from the market had also shown the areas where seafood, beef and lamb were sold had more traces of the virus than other sections.
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