Quarantine Doubles to 28 Days in This City! Here’s the Latest

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In the wake of the recent wave of COVID-19 cases that originated from the Xinfadi market, Beijing has doubled its required quarantine period from 14 days to 28 days, as scientists fear that this virus may be more contagious than the one from Wuhan.

Most people under quarantine in Beijing are workers from the beef and lamb section of the Xinfadi market, which makes them a high-risk group for COVID-19 infection, said Shi Guoqing, an expert from China's National Health Commission (NHC).

Cured patient He, the first COVID-19 patient to recover from the latest outbreak in Xinfadi wholesale market was discharged from Beijing Ditan Hospital, after testing negative for coronavirus two times, June 29, 2020.

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Shi said some of those who were infected had either shown no symptoms at all or demonstrated atypical symptoms, which makes it hard to judge if they had contracted the virus simply by observing their symptoms.

It’s also more alarming considering that some of the infected cases had initially shown negative test results. Solely relying on their tests and the lack of any abnormality within their 14-day quarantine have not been sufficient to confirm whether the observed patients had really contracted the virus, who may easily and quickly spread the infection out in the open once they’re done with their quarantine.

In response to such events, Chu Junwei, deputy head of Beijing's Fengtai district, said on Sunday that the lockdown period for quarantined individuals who had ties to the beef and lamb market section had risen to 28 days.

Shi noted on Monday that this group of people will receive a nucleic acid test after being quarantined for 14 days, and another test after the 28-day quarantine, to ensure nothing has changed since their last checkup.

So far, it’s been reported that 33.8% of confirmed cases in Beijing are workers from the beef and lamb section of the Xinfadi market, while another 20.5% were consumers visiting the area.

Beijing’s municipal health commission believes that the import of meat into China has been the root of this new strain of coronavirus cases, setting off a new wave in the country’s capital. Yang Zhanqiu, deputy director of the pathogen biology department at Wuhan University, further added that its origins lead to believe it may be a “super spreader” that lives in the Xinfadi market.

Therefore, stricter measures imposed on high-risk groups were necessary to ensure it would not spread any further than it has already. Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, dismissed the possibility that someone who first tested negative and was later confirmed to have contracted the virus would be contagious.

"Even if someone was infected but could not be tested via throat swab, the possibility of passing the virus to others through breathing is very slim," said Wu, admitting that more testing methods are necessary for key groups. 

Source: global times

Editor: Crystal H

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