After nearly two months with no new infections, Beijing officials have reported 79 cases over the past four days, the biggest concentration of infections since February. "The risk of the epidemic spreading is very high, so we should take resolute and decisive measures," Xu Hejiang, spokesman at the Beijing city government, said at a press conference on Monday. An epidemiologist with the Beijing government said on Sunday a DNA sequencing of the virus showed the Xinfadi outbreak could have come from Europe. The northeastern Liaoning province and northern Hebei province reported a combined handful of cases connected to the Beijing infections. Baoding, a highly industrialised city in Hebei about 150 kilometres southwest of Beijing, was closely monitoring entry.

Source: Otago Daily Times June 15, 2020 08:03 UTC