BEIJING, June 17 (WNM/Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security) – China has reported increased SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Beijing (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/beijing-carries-out-mass-testing-as-coronavirus-spreads-in-the-chinese-capital/2020/06/15/b5d2d8a6-aefd-11ea-98b5-279a6479a1e4_story.html) over the past several days and re-instituted some social distancing measures (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/world/asia/beijing-coronavirus-outbreak.html) in order to contain an emerging outbreak.

Beijing health authorities first identified the outbreak on June 11, linked the Xinfadi market, the largest in Beijing. The market is temporarily closed as health officials conduct their epidemiological investigation, including extensive environmental testing.

China deployed 100,000 responders (http://www.beijing.gov.cn/ywdt/gzdt/202006/t20200615_1925204.html) in Beijing to support the response activities. Officials aim to test 90,000 people in the Beijing area, and by Sunday afternoon, health officials had already tested more than 29,000 individuals who recently visited the market and more than 76,000 total across the affected communities.

Additionally, affected areas in Beijing were placed under restrictive social distancing measures, including prohibiting the entry of visitors and vehicular traffic, closing non-essential businesses and public spaces, and prohibiting mass gatherings.

Communities in Beijing that do not currently have COVID-19 cases are implementing screening measures as well, including temperature checks and symptoms monitoring.

While the Xinfadi market remains closed, other markets and chain stores are increasing the supply of vegetables and other food products to ensure availability in Beijing.

As a result of a “failure” to prevent or immediately contain the outbreak, several local officials were removed from office (http://www.beijing.gov.cn/ywdt/gzdt/202006/t20200615_1924859.html).

In terms of population, Beijing is considerably larger than Wuhan, and it is a major global transit hub. A significant COVID-19 epidemic in Beijing could be a major global problem, and Chinese officials appear to be implementing rapid and aggressive containment and investigation measures in an effort to contain the transmission before it can gain a foothold in the broader public.