Grassroots support needed for coronavirus fight in Beijing

Beijing encouraged residents and volunteers to participate in the fight against the novel coronavirus, and is organizing community-level prevention work groups to gradually move people to and from Central China's Hubei province.

The capital's municipal government said in a released document on Thursday that the city's confirmed coronavirus pneumonia cases had risen recently and showed a trend of spreading.

Lei Haichao, director of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, said in a press conference held by the capital's municipal government on Thursday morning once a novel coronavirus pneumonia case is confirmed in a community, or two cases are confirmed in a family or a unit, close medical observation should be conducted with the families and resident buildings.

Service personnel at street and community level should closely follow those residents' health conditions and report to health departments regularly, he said.

Beijing plans to establish a reporting system at different levels and strengthen inspection on people who came from regions which have a large amount of confirmed cases, according to a government document.

In addition, Beijing established a specific inspection system for the capital's resident communities to divide people who arrived in Beijing in recent days into groups to reduce the risks of the spread of coronavirus.

All communities and villages received information on people in the area who had traveled to Hubei province or had close contact with those who went to these areas, and need to put those residents under quarantine indoors for 14 days.

Basic living guarantees should be provided to them, and close medical observation should also be conducted for them at home. They also need to wear masks when outside.

Once clinical symptoms like fever, fatigue or dry cough appear, involved communities and villages need to immediately report to county-level governments. Residents should visit nearby medical institutions for further examination, the document read.

By 8 am on Thursday, 114 people in Beijing were diagnosed with the disease, with one dead according to the Beijing Municipal Health Commission. Three new cases were confirmed between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.