Beijing reports two new cases after week without new infections

Beijing reported two new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Shunyi district on Monday, including an imported case and a locally-transmitted case related to the imported case.

The imported case, who is a crew member of an international flight, failed to comply with regulations during the health monitoring period in Beijing, officials said at a news conference on Monday afternoon.

"The imported case entered China on Thursday from abroad and arrived in Beijing on Friday," said Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control. "On Sunday, he visited a restaurant, a movie theater and went shopping as well as took public transportation."

"He showed symptoms such as scratchy throat on Sunday and took a nucleic acid test on Sunday afternoon," Liu said. "He tested positive on Monday and then was diagnosed as a confirmed case."

The local case was the imported case's wife and tested positive for the virus during a round of testing for close contacts on Monday.

"The residential building the confirmed cases live has been classified as a high-risk area for COVID-19, and four areas in Shunyi have been adjusted to medium-risk," said Zhang Yanlin, deputy director of Shunyi district. "We have identified 201 close contacts and those who are involved in the Shunyi resurgence have been put under controlled management."

The imported case is a pilot of China National Aviation Holding Corporation and arrived in Shenzhen, Guangdong province from Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday, according to an official from the company.

"All crew members took a closed-loop flight from Shenzhen to Beijing on Friday after they tested negative for the virus," said Xu Haiming, director of the company's epidemic control and prevention work group. "So far, all crew members, ground support staff and other people involved have been put under controlled management. We have also completed terminal disinfection of the aircraft and ground support facilities twice."

"Imported cases are the biggest risk in the current epidemic control and prevention in Beijing," Beijing Party Secretary Cai Qi said at a meeting of the city's epidemic control and prevention work group on Monday morning. "Effective measures must be taken to cut the transmission chain of the virus."

Beijing had reported no new locally transmitted, asymptomatic or suspected cases of COVID-19 for seven straight days before the infections on Monday.