Beijing reportedly closes all schools after new COVID-19 cases

All schools are reportedly being closed in Beijing amid a new outbreak of COVID-19.

Beijing recently started to confirm a cluster of new coronavirus cases connected to a food market after not reporting any locally transmitted infections for almost two months, CNN reports. Lockdown measures were imposed on residential compounds around the market as authorities said there was a "very high" risk of the outbreak spreading, and on Tuesday, the number of new cases over five days reached 106. This is "is the most serious flare-up in China since February, stoking fears of a second wave of the disease," NBC News writes.

Now, Beijing has ordered all schools to close and raised its emergency response to level two, requiring anyone to be tested before leaving the city, Bloomberg reports. Almost 30 housing compounds have been put under lockdown, and more than 10 food markets have been shut down, the report says.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Chinese authorities have also tracked down almost 200,000 people who were at the market within two weeks to test them for coronavirus and tell them to stay home, CNN reports. Senior government official Xu Ying had previously said, per CBS News, "the containment efforts have rapidly entered war-time mode."