New Covid-19 cases drop to single digits in Beijing
July 7, 2020 Category Health, Weekly
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The number of new daily Covid-19 cases in Beijing has dropped to single digits as the recent outbreak is now firmly under control. However, Beijing has doubled the Covid-19 quarantine period from 14 days to 28 as scientists fear that the type of coronavirus that set off Beijing’s recent outbreak in the Xinfadi market may be more contagious than the one in Wuhan. Most people under quarantine in Beijing are workers from the beef and lamb section of the Xinfadi market, a high-risk group for Covid-19 infection. The first cured Covid-19 patient in Beijing’s latest cluster was discharged from hospital after recovering. As from July 4, residents in Beijing’s low-risk areas no longer needed to have negative nucleic acid test results when leaving the city. The daily number of new confirmed cases in the city fell from 36 at the peak to only one or two cases in the past few days. The total number of confirmed cases in the latest outbreak in Beijing reached 335.
Xin’an county in the Xiong’an New Area in Hebei province has implemented the “strictest measures” to fight Covid-19 by imposing a countywide lockdown. The county is located about 130 kilometers southwest of Beijing. Cases in the county were found to be closely linked with Beijing’s Xinfadi market. More than 2,100 Xin’an residents run aquatic product businesses in the market, the government said. In the foreseeable future, Covid-19 cannot be eradicated and regional outbreaks are still possible, said Wang Guangfa, Respiratory Expert at Peking University First Hospital.
Chinese biopharmaceutical firm CanSino Biologics announced that a recombinant coronavirus vaccine (Ad5-nCoV) the company developed with a military research team has received special one-year approval for military use by the Health Bureau of the Logistics Support Department of the Central Military Commission (CMC). The vaccine, called Ad5-nCoV, is being jointly developed by CanSino and a team led by Major General Chen Wei from the Institute of Biotechnology under the Academy of Military Medical Sciences. Special military drugs have to obtain the approval of the military logistics support department and China’s national drug supervision department before being used for civilians. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), clinical trials are under way for 17 vaccine candidates, seven of which have been developed in China. One candidate developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca is in phase three studies.
The new Covid-19 outbreak in Beijing has dealt a heavy blow to the nation’s seafood sector, pushing sales down 60% to 70% compared with pre-pandemic levels, and analysts said the industry is facing the worst time in decades. Seafood orders are canceled and marketplaces are shut in Beijing, where about 25% of China’s seafood consumption takes place. Consumers elsewhere in the country are cautious, too, and it is taking a heavy toll on the sector. From February to May, the sales volume of salmon products fell 60% year-on-year. Sales of king crab were down 80% and those of turbot dropped 70%, Cui He, President of the China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance (CAPPMA), told the Global Times. Meanwhile, some fresh salmon products are returning to the shelves after health authorities clarified that there is no evidence suggesting salmon is a direct host or intermediate carrier of the virus which causes Covid-19. However, insiders said that as public confidence in salmon products has dropped, it will take at least another three months for the market to return to normal.
Chinese researchers have issued an early warning over another potential pandemic caused by an influenza virus in pigs, but disease control experts said the public should not overreact and hog farms have shown no signs of related disease. Scientists from the China Agricultural University, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other institutes detected a pig influenza virus bearing genotype 4 (G4), which is contagious among pigs and has the possibility of jumping to humans, as the G4 virus is able to bind with human cells. The study was published in the U.S. science journal PNAS. Researchers collected samples between 2011 and 2018 among pigs in 10 Chinese provinces and regions, and found that the virus was prevalent in pigs since 2016. Some 10.4% of pig farm workers tested positive for antibodies against the virus, and up to 4.4% of the general population may have been exposed. The G4 virus is genetically descended from the H1N1 strain behind the 2009 outbreak.
As new daily Covid-19 cases in the U.S. reached record numbers, U.S. President Donald Trump was reported to become more angry at China, which he holds responsible for letting the pandemic escape from China. The World Health Organization (WHO) is sending a team to China this week to prepare to identify the source of the coronavirus, noting that the visit does not mean the virus originated in China. “We can fight the virus better when we know everything about the virus, including how it started,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference.
This overview is based on reporting by the Global Times, China Daily, South China Morning Post and Shanghai Daily.
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