after nearly two months of no new local
infections and life slowly returning to
normal
china's capital is once again
drastically stepping up measures to
prevent the spread of a new coronavirus
cluster
dozens of cases are linked to the
xinfadi wholesale market
one of asia's biggest the city's
government rushed to shut down the
sprawling complex
which supplies nearly 90 percent of
beijing's fresh seafood vegetables and
fruit
we were told last night that this place
is closed now i can only sell my peaches
on the street
there have been very few people buying
them so i'm going to be at a loss for
sure
but what can you do life and health
always come first
the market is in the southern district
home to more than two million people
an area that is now under a strict
lockdown
plans to open kindergartens and primary
schools on monday have been delayed
sports and athletic events have been
postponed while
public facilities have shut down and
movement in and out of the city is
restricted
state media says the virus was initially
detected on a cutting board used to
prepare
imported salmon prompting supermarkets
to take the fish
off their shelves additional tests found
that the virus could be carried and
spread through produce and packaging
meaning it could have traveled well
beyond the city's limits
cases linked to the market have been
confirmed in two other provinces
beijing's government has launched an
extensive operation to test 10 000
workers from the market
and screen anyone who visited it this
month
there was panic in the first wave but
there's no need for that in the second
wave
people are vigilant we have big data and
the government can strictly control
things
there should be no problem beijing
downgraded its emergency response level
only a week ago
easing restrictions on wearing masks and
having temperature checks
this latest cluster is raising concerns
due to parallels with wuhan city
where the virus was first discovered
last year it too
started at a market and led to months of
lockdowns until china said
it had overcome the outbreak in march
the hope
is that that declaration wasn't
premature the vigo palin al jazeera hong
kong