COVID-19: China shuts down parts of Beijing over fears of a second virus wave

Concerned authorities in China have shut down parts of Beijing on Saturday after six new domestic COVID-19 cases were reported, fueling fears of resurgence in local transmission in the area.

Reports say people were prevented from leaving their homes at 11 residential estates in south Beijing’s Fengtai district after most of the cases were linked to a nearby meat market.

Authorities in Beijing temporarily closed a major wholesale market in the city after the National Health Commission (NHC) said that at least two of the infected people had visited the Xinfadi market.

This came after the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday the Americas were bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic at present with North and South America currently having four of the 10 worst-hit countries in the world.

READ ALSO: COVID-19: India’s death toll overtakes China, as WFP warns 14m people may go hungry in Latin America

The WHO’s top emergency expert, Mike Ryan, who highlighted the problems in Brazil and Mexico at a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, said the virus was “highly active” in Central and South America.

He said the current situation in Brazil, now one of the global hot-spots for the virus, was of increasing concern, especially in heavily-populated cities.

The WHO official added that the country’s health system was “still coping,” although some intensive care units were at a critical stage and under heavy pressure with more than 90 percent bed occupancy rates.

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