Beijing residents on Monday said they felt less concerned about the coronavirus outbreak as the number of new infections dropped to a single-digit.
Beijing reported on Monday nine new cases for Sunday, sharply down from 22 a day earlier.
“I think so far Beijing has done well to control the epidemic,” said 26-year-old Eileen Xu.
The city of more than 20 million people reported its first case in the latest wave on June 11 linked to a wholesale food centre in the southwest of Beijing. So far, 236 people have been infected in the worst outbreak in Beijing since COVID-19 was identified in a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan.
To identify potential carriers, Beijing has been conducting tests on what it deems as higher-risk groups, such as restaurant workers and food and parcel couriers. Even residents in some low-risk neighbourhoods have been tested. As of June 20, 2.3 million people have been tested.
“We’ve to live with the virus for the long term before a vaccine is available,” said Bill Yuan, a 28-year-old IT worker, “There might be a few new infections all the time. If it (an outbreak) happens, we’ve to stay alert for a while and quarantine (the patients). Then go back to work when it’s gone”.
PepsiCo China said on Sunday that operations at one of its food processing plants in Beijing had been suspended after at least one employee tested positive for the coronavirus.
Production at the factory in the Daxing district was halted as soon as the first coronavirus case was confirmed on June 15, according to PepsiCo China director of corporate affairs, Fan Zhimin at a news conference, without saying how many cases were detected.
