11 Beijing markets closed, dozens queue for tests

Beijing is also barring residents of areas considered at high risk from leaving the city, in an attempt to prevent the new outbreak in the capital from spreading to other parts of the country. In total, 11 markets have now been shuttered as authorities tracked an infected pair of health inspectors who might have spread the disease throughout the city's food system.

Beijing: Chinese authorities were reimposing some travel restrictions in the capital Tuesday as they worked to contain a new coronavirus outbreak and prevent it spreading more widely in a country that previously appeared to have largely contained the virus.

China reported 40 more coronavirus infections on Tuesday, 27 of them in Beijing, bringing the city's total to 106 since Friday.

At least one patient was in critical condition and two were in serious condition.

Many of the recent cases have been linked to Beijing's Xinfadi wholesale market and authorities have been testing market workers, anyone who visited the market in the past two weeks and anyone who came into contact with either group.

Authorities had traced three new cases to the Yuquandong market in Haidian district in the west of the nation's capital, and overnight Monday guards were posted and the entrances closed.

Fresh meat and seafood in the city and elsewhere in China was also being inspected on the unlikely chance that was how the virus spread.

Residential communities around the market have been put under lockdown, along with the area around a second market, Yuquandong, where three cases were confirmed.

In total, 11 markets have now been shuttered as authorities tracked an infected pair of health inspectors who might have spread the disease throughout the city's food system.

In all, 90,000 people are affected in the two neighborhoods in the city of 20 million.

Those from such areas who have already left must report to local health bureaus as soon as possible.

China had relaxed most of its controls after the ruling Communist Party declared victory over the virus in March, but Beijing suspended Monday's planned restart of some primary schools and reversed the relaxation of some social isolation measures.

Of the new cases reported by the health ministry Tuesday, eight were imported by returning Chinese travelers, four were reported in Hebei province next to the capital and another was detected in the southwestern province of Sichuan that has seen relatively few cases.

No new deaths were reported and 210 people remained in treatment while another 114 are being monitored in isolation for showing signs of COVID-19 or for testing positive for the virus but showing no symptoms. China has reported 4,634 deaths from COVID-19 among 83,064 cases.

As reopenings from Europe to Latin America continued, the resurgence in China highlighted experts' calls for vigilance in the fight against the pandemic.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.

But the virus is highly contagious and can be spread by those with mild or no visible symptoms.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and could lead to death.

AP