Beijing is facing the most complicated and severest anti-epidemic situation since the outbreak of COVID-19, said Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) officials on Monday.
According to the national health commission, the capital reported more than 2,400 cases from Friday to 3 pm on Monday, with over 500 infections identified outside of quarantine zones through community-level test screening.
Liu said the Omicron BF.7 variant, imported from a trading town outside the capital, is the main strain in this round of outbreaks and has triggered cluster infections in nursing homes, construction sites and schools as the infections reported from Friday to Sunday were mainly concentrated in the districts of Chaoyang, Changping, Haidian, Fengtai and Tongzhou.
As daily infections continue to rise, the capital reported another two COVID-19 deaths, bringing the country's total death toll to three since May.
The National Health Commission confirmed on Monday that a female aged 91 and a male aged 88, both diagnosed with mild COVID-19 symptoms but with severe underlying diseases, died at Beijing Ditan Hospital on Sunday, following the death of an 87-year-old man who died on Saturday of sepsis triggered by a serious lung infection.
As of Tuesday, Beijing requires people entering the city to receive daily COVID-19 testing for three consecutive days, asking those arrivals to stay at home before their negative test results come out.