Muristek
Beijing, April 24
China's capital Beijing has gone on high alert as the situation turned "grim" following the emergence of clusters of Covid-19, while the country's financial hub Shanghai reported 39 more deaths due to the virus, the highest in a day so far during the current outbreak since last month.
The Chinese mainland on Saturday reported 21,796 cases, including 1,566 positive cases and the rest asymptomatic cases mostly in Shanghai, China's National Health Commission reported on Sunday.
Beijing, the seat of China's top leadership, went on high Covid-19 alert as the city braced to test some sections of the population after the city recorded 22 new community cases on Saturday.
The city went on high alert after 10 school students tested positive on Friday following which city officials suspended classes in the school for a week.
Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, said undetected local transmissions started in the city about a week ago, and involved schools, tour groups and families.
"There were hidden transmissions for a week and the infected people came from different backgrounds and a wide range of activities," Pang was quoted as saying by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. Mass testing will be conducted on senior citizens who had been on tour groups, construction workers and the people working at the school where the cluster was identified, Pang said.
Following the emergence of new clusters, Beijing has taken strict measures, including organising nucleic acid tests in key groups, and taking partial closed-off management and suspending classes in the areas and a school that spotted the cases, Global Times reported. —