Beijing reports new COVID-19 cluster

Beijing reported 51 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in 24 hours starting Thursday afternoon, bringing the total number of infections to 979 since April 22. Fifteen districts have recorded cases, according to Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, at a news conference on Friday.

Of the new infections, 40 were reported in controlled zones, and 11 were found from the mass nucleic acid tests at community level, she said.

Of all 979 cases during the outbreak by Friday, Chaoyang district registered 358 cases, the most in the outbreak, followed by Fangshan, which reported 276 cases since April 22. Haidian saw 88 cases and Fengtai 73 cases during the same period.

A new cluster involving a bus station workers resulted in three cases by Friday afternoon, Pang said. The epidemiological investigation is currently underway.

"Beijing is still facing a severe situation of the ongoing outbreak. The hidden transmission risks still exist at the community level and the transmission chains in the city are not yet completely cut," she said. "We should stick to the dynamic zero policy and strengthen the management on key groups of people, including staff in logistics and public transpiration units."

As of Friday afternoon, Beijing had 14 high-risk areas for COVID-19 and 34 medium-risk areas.