Beijing links 29 cases to Sanlitun bar

Strict control and prevention measures should be continued, official says

Beijing's newly reported COVID-19 cluster involving a bar has led to 29 confirmed cases in two days, which shows the risk of a rebound in infections still exists and strict control and prevention measures should be continued, a senior official said on Friday.

The new locally transmitted cases all relate to a bar in Sanlitun, Chaoyang district.

Of the cases, 26 went to a bar named "Heaven Supermarket" on Monday and Tuesday. One was an employee of the bar and the other two are related to confirmed cases, Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, said at a news conference on Friday.

"The infected are from 12 districts in the city and more than 85 percent of them are under 30 years old," he said. "The occupations of those infected are diverse. Plus, the bar had not strictly followed the epidemic control and prevention measures including taking temperatures and checking negative nucleic acid results of the guests, which added to the difficulties in containing the virus spreading."

Liu expected that more close contacts of the newly reported cluster and other people who had been to the bar would test positive.

The new cases brought the total number of infections in Beijing's latest outbreak to 1,860 since April 22.

"The center has conducted gene sequencing analysis of three of the newly infected and the results showed that the virus is from the previous transmission chains, which means the insidious infection sources still exist in the community," Liu said.

Chaoyang district, where the bar is located, has identified 4,402 close contacts of the bar cluster, said Yang Beibei, deputy head of the district government.

"The authority has taken samples from 880 spots in the bar, including toilets, floor drains and doorknobs for nucleic acid tests. All results showed negative," she said. "Residential communities within 200 meters of the bar were under lockdown. All of the 665 residents' nucleic acid tests showed negative."

After the cluster occurred, Beijing conducted a citywide check on epidemic control and prevention procedures in entertainment places, including all bars.

Starting Thursday afternoon, all entertainment venues, internet cafes, underground gyms and sports facilities in Chaoyang were ordered to suspend operation.

Elsewhere, Shanghai reported four confirmed new COVID-19 cases and two asymptomatic cases on Friday.

A total of 489 primary contacts and 187 secondary contacts have been identified and put under quarantine. All have had nucleic acid tests, with all results negative as of 4 pm Friday.

The new infections were found in Hongkou, Baoshan, Jing'an and Fengxian districts, and two cases have been to the same shopping mall in Wujiaochang, Yangpu district.

Zhao Dandan, deputy director of Shanghai Health Commission, said the continuous emergence of new infections has shown that hidden transmission chains still exist outside controlled areas.

Massive nucleic acid tests will be carried out on the weekend in Pudong, Huangpu, Jing'an, Xuhui, Hongkou, Baoshan and Minhang districts, which have reported infections since June 1, to help identify the hidden transmission chains, said the health authority.