Beijing makes major headway against latest contagion outbreak

Beijing has basically cut off new transmission chains amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak and the epidemic situation in the capital city is coming under increasing control, a senior official said on Friday.

Beijing reported 20 new locally transmitted cases as of 3 pm on Friday, bringing the total number of infections to 1,701 since April 22, according to Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, at a news conference on Friday afternoon.

"All of the new infections were reported in quarantined locations, and no cases were found from mass nucleic acid tests at community levels," Liu said.

Of all the 1,701 cases so far, Chaoyang district registered 422, the most amid the current outbreak, followed by Fangshan, which announced 413. Fengtai reported 368 and Haidian 235 during the period.

Chaoyang has not reported any cases at the community level for more than three days, and Fangshan has reported no such cases for more than seven days, Liu said.

As of Friday, Beijing had seven high-risk areas for COVID-19 and 17 medium-risk areas.

Beijing is offering residents aged 60 and above government-backed insurance for medical accidents linked to COVID-19 vaccinations, according to the city's banking and insurance regulatory bureau.

The insurance policy payout could be as high as 500,000 yuan ($74,200) per person for a single benefit.

According to the city government, more than 3.43 million residents aged 60 and above have received at least one dose of vaccine as of April 13, accounting for 80 percent of the total population of the demographic.

The new insurance plan, with premiums covered by the government, aims to alleviate concerns over vaccinations among the elderly and their family members.

According to an announcement by the Shunyi district government on Friday, the Beijing Health Commission and the district government have launched an investigation into a local hospital and Beijing Emergency Medical Center's Shunyi branch following an accusation that they allegedly delayed medical treatment, which resulted in the death of a patient.

The person in charge of the emergency center's branch and other relevant persons have been suspended pending the investigation.

The whole process, including the center's responses before the treatment, will be investigated.