The Chinese municipality of Beijing announced yesterday that the city will reduce the level of the emergency response to the outbreak of the emerging corona virus (Covid-19) to the third level, from the second level, starting today.
Beijing announced the second level on June 16, after discovering cases of the virus linked to the Xinfadi foodstuff wholesale market in a southwestern area of Beijing. Since June 11, the Chinese capital has registered up to 335 cases related to this market, but no new cases have been reported over the past two weeks.
"Generally speaking, the risks of infection with Corona virus in Beijing and its transmission to other regions are low, and the general situation of dealing with the pandemic is under control," Liu Bei, deputy mayor of Beijing, told a press conference.
After reducing the level of the emergency response to the virus, Beijing will reopen parks, tourist places, gyms, libraries and museums, but it will reduce the number of visitors to it by 50%. Liu said conferences with no more than 500 participants will be allowed, while exhibitions and cinemas are expected to gradually reopen and sports.
In addition, the National Health Committee of China announced yesterday that it recorded 16 new cases of coronavirus on the mainland within 24 hours, down from 22 cases the day before yesterday.
Of the new infections, 13 were reported in the city of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region in the far west of China. The other three cases were people from abroad, registered in the southern province of Guangdong and the eastern province of Shandong.
The National Committee said that the total confirmed cases of coronavirus on the Chinese mainland amounted to 83,660 cases. The number of deaths at 4,634 remained unchanged.
Beijing Municipality: The general situation in dealing with the pandemic is under control.
16 new cases of "corona" on the Chinese mainland within 24 hours.