China puts 500,000 residents in lockdown fearing second wave

Following a huge surge in coronavirus cases China has placed 500,000 citizens back into lockdown as they are fearing a second wave.

Earlier this month Beijing locked down 27 neighbourhoods, as officials scramble to contain the new coronavirus outbreak.

Officials believe the virus spread from the Xin Fa Di seafood wet market which supplies up to 80% of meat and vegetables across the capital, which has now been closed.

Beijing has had a fresh total of 311 coronavirus cases since mid-June, and health officials placed Anxin county, some 90 miles from Beijing, under lockdown following new clusters.

Only one person per household can go out once a day to buy food or medicines as the county is “fully enclosed and controlled.”

According to the state-run Global Times, there was 12 cases of the virus found in Anxin, with 11 linked to Xin Fa Di wet market.

Beijing city official Xu Hejian told reporters Sunday that “the epidemic situation in the capital is severe and complicated.”

Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention told CGTN, “It clearly indicates the virus strain is different from what it was two months ago.

“The virus strain is the major epidemic strain in European countries.

“So, it is from outside China brought to Beijing.”

The emeritus Professor Keith Neal of the epidemiology of infectious diseases at Britain’s University of Nottingham said, “Markets can be crowded places, so, like in Wuhan, [they]help fuel the spread.”

Pang Xinghuo, an official at the Beijing Centre for Disease Control said: “We cannot rule out subsequent cases in the future.”