Beijing CDC: Imported Infection Remains Biggest Risk

At a press conference on Beijing's control and treatment efforts on 13 April, Pang Xinghuo, Deputy Director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, said that in the second half of April local infections in Beijing is expected to stay low, while the biggest risk remains the import of infections. The risk of the virus spreading from other parts of China to Beijing is relatively low.

The expert panel at Beijing CDC concluded that as the outbreak continues to escalate in the world, rapid increase in infections globally is expected to continue for the rest of April. China's domestic situation has moved steadily in a positive direction, but the country still faces the risk of imported and local cases. In the coming weeks, infections in China will stay at a low level although the possibility of sporadic local cases cannot be ruled out. The past week saw an increase in imported cases in Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia and Shanghai with the majority coming from Russia. China still faces considerable pressure in preventing imported infections.

Since 23 March, sporadic cases have been reported among inbound passengers under quarantine, which now make up most of the infections in Beijing. As of 24:00, 12 April, 173 confirmed imported cases had been reported in Beijing and among them 80 had been cured and discharged. Since 1 April, disease control and prevention centers, medical institutions and third-party testing institutions in Beijing have continued to monitor key groups of people. They have altogether carried out nucleic acid tests for over 40,000 people including 3,122 inbound passengers, two of whom tested positive.

Going forward, Beijing will continue to conduct nucleic acid tests for inbound passengers and other high-risk population, all of whom will be placed under strict quarantine at home or designated facilities.