The “super spreader” of COVID-19 who visited bars and puts the reopening of Beijing in check

A positive man coronavirus covid-19 who visited numerous bars in Beijing for two days last week has put in check the reopening of the capital of China when the last outbreak was already over, and for the moment leaves 115 infections and more than 6,000 people in quarantine.

The new cases are spread throughout the cityof 23 million inhabitants, although 107 of them are people who coincided with the “super spreader” in a well-known bar in the central district of Chaoyangbetween customers, waiters and close contacts, according to local authorities.

LOOK: Shanghai to re-confine 2.7 million inhabitants for mass COVID-19 testing

The deputy director of Beijing Center for Disease Control and PreventionLiu Xiaofeng said at a press conference that He expects more infections related to this case to arise and warned of the high risk of the virus spreading again in the city.

So far, 6,158 close contacts and 901 secondary contacts have been identified and placed in isolation, while numerous urbanizations in the capital have been confined for periods of up to two weeks while mass screening through PCR tests resumes.

LOOK: Beijing reopens restaurants amid drop in COVID-19 infections

What happened has also put bars, restaurants and other leisure establishments under scrutiny, which the health authorities accuse of not rigorously applying the access and tracking protocols by which customers must scan their health code when accessing a local.

For now, the newly opened bars in the district of Chaoyang and in some surrounding areas they have had to close their doors again, although for now the restaurants remain open to the public after almost two months in which they could only serve takeout.

Also school reopening plans have been affectedwhich had been closed for almost two months and were going to resume face-to-face classes in stages over the next two weeks, a return that is now postponed.

Chinaclinging to a strict policy of “zero covid” who rules out living with the virus, has been dealing with outbreaks of the virus for more than three months omicron variantwith the most serious case illustrated by the confinement of the Shanghai megalopolis (26 million inhabitants) for more than two months.

In addition to incalculable economic losses, these harsh measures have also caused for the first time visible signs of irritation and discontent in the population, which until now had mostly supported this government policy.

The National Health Commission of China estimates 224,793 infections throughout the pandemic and 5,226 deathsalthough these figures do not include the thousands of asymptomatic cases registered in recent months.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.