Students in the city must continue their studies online, Li Yi, spokesman for the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, told reporters during a news conference Wednesday.
Classes had resumed in-person about a month ago, signaling another victory for the nation whose government had claimed in March that the virus had largely been contained.
But on Wednesday, China’s National Health Commission reported 31 new cases in the capital, compared to the 44 newly reported cases across China, appearing to be the city’s largest coronavirus outbreak in more than two months.
“This has truly rung an alarm bell for us,” said Party Secretary Cai Qi during a meeting of Beijing’s Communist Party Standing Committee.
The capital city raised its public health emergency warning Wednesday from a three to a two — the nation’s second-highest level — employing more strategies to mitigate the spread of the outbreak.
More than 60 percent of commercial flights were canceled in an effort to limit travel in and out of the city. Beijing Capital Airport, one of the city’s two main airports, is typically considered the world’s second busiest in terms of passenger capacity.
The spike in Beijing’s recent coronavirus cases has been traced back to the city’s largest meat and vegetable market. Xinfadi wholesale market, which is around the size of 250 football fields, The Washington Post reported.
By June 14, the city had reported 80 new cases, all of which could be linked to Xinfadi, officials said according to the Wall Street Journal. The suspected cause of Beijing’s recent outbreak is reminiscent of how the virus is initially thought to have been introduced late last year, with the Huanan food market in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Beijing residents living in medium and high-risk areas, such as the neighborhoods surrounding Xinfadi, are not allowed to leave the capital. Those who must are required to receive a negative nucleic acid test before they do so, according to the Communist Party’s Global Times.
“We would like to warn everyone not to drop their guard even for a second in epidemic prevention control,” Xu Hejian, a spokesman for Beijing’s municipal government, said at a June 13 news conference. “We must be prepared for a prolonged fight with the virus.”
Adding to officials’ worry is the knowledge that the virus could have actually gone undetected in Beijing for several weeks, calling into question the city’s 56-day streak of zero reported cases.
The new outbreak in the capital could have started as far back as late April, said Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There can only be so many cases around us now if there were already many people with no symptoms or light symptoms back then. This is our current speculation, but we need to verify it,” Fu told reporters.
