CHINA’S BOAST ABOUT BEATING COVID-19 FLOPS; 57 NEW CASES FOUND

China has not beaten the deadly COVID-19 pandemic as 57 new cases were found, 36 of them in Beijing, even as authorities blamed foreign salmon for the outbreak, with the virus discovered in chopping boards at the Xinfadi market in Beijing, the Agence France Presse (AFP) reported on Sunday, June 14, 2020.

The domestic outbreak in China had been brought largely under control through strict lockdowns that were imposed early this year -- but a new outbreak has been linked to a meat and vegetable market in south Beijing after another outbreak in the city of Shulan near the border with North Korea weeks ago. The 57 cases are the highest daily figure for COVID-19 infections since April.

The National Health Commission (NHC) said 36 of the new cases were domestic infections in the capital. The other two domestic infections reported Sunday were in northeastern Liaoning province, and local health officials said they were close contacts of the Beijing cases.

The alert was sounded after the NHC confirmed the first cases in Beijing for two months on Friday and city officials delayed the return of students in primary schools that had not already resumed classes. Several of the new cases were linked to the Xinfadi wholesale market, and more cases connected with the market emerged Saturday after wider testing.