Beijing reports new COVID-19 cluster

Beijing reported a new family cluster of COVID-19 caused by dining in a roast duck restaurant already involved in several cases during this round of the outbreak, government officials said at a news conference on Monday.

One of the family members dined at the restaurant in Dongcheng district on March 10 - the same day previous cases had been reported as dining in the restaurant who were confirmed to be infected last week.

The person denied having been to the restaurant after the related cases were released to the public, which led to the other five family members being infected and many places - including supermarkets and other restaurants the person had been to, being locked down. The residential community is now under lockdown too, according to Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The behavior has increased the risks of the virus spreading and added social costs for the prevention and control of the epidemic," she said. "It's citizens' responsibility to report real information and tracking when being asked."

According to the center, Beijing reported seven new locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 from 4 pm Sunday to 4 pm Monday involving the districts of Dongcheng and Chaoyang. Six of the seven cases are members of this family and the other one is a cook in the aforementioned restaurant.

On Thursday, Beijing reported eight new locally transmitted cases involving people at the restaurant. Of the eight cases revealed on Thursday, three were staff members and two were diners. The other three infected diners had been reported previously.

Pang reminded the public to reduce dining out in groups during the pandemic and encouraged the use of serving spoons and chopsticks.

The number of infections in Beijing during this round of the outbreak has reached 72 as of 4 pm on Monday.