June 17, 2020

expert comments on news of a new coronavirus outbreak in Beijing

There have been reports of a new outbreak of COVID-19 cases in Beijing, and subsequent actions by the Chinese authorities to halt the spread of the virus. 

Prof Sian Griffiths, Emeritus Professor, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and co-chair of the Hong Kong government’s SARS inquiry, said:

“Beijing authorities have reacted very quickly to the outbreak which is thought to have originated in Xinfandi market which is a large wholesale market which sells fresh food and vegetable from a wide area around Beijing . To stop the spread of the virus the city has instituted lockdown regulations in nearby districts to stop further spread including isolation of cases and quarantine. A large scale Track and Trace operation is in place with all market traders, market attendees being tested in Beijing and further afield . One hospital is identified as the Covid hospital and cases are directed there whilst preparations for a larger scale outbreak are being made by identifying how a surge response could be mounted in terms of beds and staff. There are also citywide actions such as travel restrictions at the airport and schools have not reopened.

“Questions about the source of the outbreak continue to be asked – particularly if the disease was imported. Given the huge size of the market and large number of people using it human to human is a high possibility but food sources need to be excluded.

“Experience of SARS in 2003 and Covid more recently means that plans are in place and have been escalated to high level particularly as the context of large numbers of interactions and number of potential contacts makes control of the outbreak both complex and urgent if a second national wave of infection is to be avoided.”

Dr Tom Wingfield, Senior Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Physician, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said:

“The Covid-19 outbreak in Beijing serves as a reminder that, despite the UK having passed through the first wave of Covid-19, we still remain in the early stages of the pandemic.

“In the absence of herd immunity through either an effective vaccine or immunity following  infection, the majority of the population – both in the UK and globally – remains at risk of Covid-19 if exposed to SARS-CoV-2. Transmission is still occurring and many countries have not yet reached the peak of their first wave of Covid-19. It is inevitable that there will continue to be outbreaks, even in countries with very low numbers of Covid-19 cases per day such as China.

“Swift and coordinated responses to such outbreaks at regional, national, and international levels will be key to breaking transmission and preventing further spread of the virus. These responses are likely to include targeted testing and tracing and reinstatement of lockdown measures such as social distancing and travel restrictions. It is also likely that rather than being a blanket national policy, responses will instead be focused on specific hotspot areas affected by outbreaks.”

Prof Keith Neal, Emeritus Professor of the Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases, University of Nottingham, said:

“What is actually happening in China is never truly transparent so only informed guesses are possible.

“Beijing have been using compulsory enforced quarantines for all returning travellers. If people are tested at the end of their 14 day quarantine, and given that no test is 100% sensitive and with 1000s of people returning, an infected person(s) was/were always going to slip through these controls.

“This is person to person or person to environment to person spread; possibly focussed on a market as in Wuhan.

“Salmon as a source is highly unlikely – how did the salmon get COVID? Given comments about faeces in the market, food hygiene might be very poor.

“This is not a second wave but a localised outbreak.  It does depend on how you define a second wave though.

“Re-emergence is going to be an on-going issue and also note what has happened in New Zealand of international travel.”

Prof Brendan Wren, Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said:

“Beijing had previously gone 57 days without a locally-transmitted case of Covid-19 and the latest peak in the number of cases is a real concern. It will be important to establish the source of this re-infection, it is likely to be locally-transmitted through human transfer, but given that the origin of the infection was in China we shouldn’t exclude the possibility of the original animal source suspected from food markets being responsible for the latest outbreak? DNA sequencing of the virus from infected individuals should establish a forensic trail to establish the source and reservoir of this re-infection.”

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