Beijing on Tuesday reported zero new coronavirus cases for the first time since the emergence of a cluster in the Chinese capital in June that prompted fears of a domestic second wave.
A total of 335 people have been infected since a cluster emerged at the city’s massive Xinfadi wholesale market in early June.
According to the Beijing’s health commission, it detected only one asymptomatic case the previous day, which China does not include in its confirmed cases counts.
During a press briefing on Monday, officials said that the Beijing government has tested more than 11 million people for COVID-19 since June 11 — roughly half the city’s population.
Earlier in June, Chinese officials warned that the coronavirus situation in Beijing was “extremely severe”, as new infections were reported from Beijing where a new cluster has sparked a huge trace-and-test programme.
Localised lockdowns across the city have been eased in recent days, with people living in areas of the city considered “low risk” now allowed to travel freely again.
Beijing’s outbreak is “stabilising and improving,” Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the city’s centre for disease control, told reporters Monday.
Beijing’s coronavirus testing capacity earlier has been expanded to 90,000 a day.
Officials had warned that since May 30, 200,000 people had visited the Xinfadi market — the original site of the new outbreak.
Until recent outbreak, most of China’s cases in recent months were nationals returning home as the pandemic spread to other countries.
The government has since also imposed a strict lockdown on nearly half a million people in neighbouring Hebei province to contain a fresh cluster there, adopting the same strict measures imposed at the height of the pandemic in the epicentre of Wuhan city earlier this year.
(With inputs from agency)