Following claims of more than 100 COVID-19 cases being reported, people were queuing up to get tested for coronavirus at a makeshift testing centre in Beijing on Sunday.
The virus emerged in Wuhan in China in late 2019. It since drove local transmission down to near-zero as the crisis hammered the rest of the world. WHO said it understood no new deaths have been reported thus far in the Chinese capital but added that given Beijing's size and connectivity, the outbreak was a cause for concern.
On June 12, a new cluster of coronavirus infections emerged in Beijing, most of these cases being linked to the Xinfadi beef and lamb market. China on Tuesday reported 27 new confirmed cases, taking the caseload to 106 in five days, the sharpest rise for the city.
WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said, as “Beijing is a large city and a very dynamic and connected city, so there is always a concern.” He added that countries that have implemented an immediate and comprehensive spread of measures have generally been able to contain new clusters.
Ryan further added that WHO had offered assistance and support to the Chinese authorities leading the probe to trace the origin of the virus, and may reinforce its team in Beijing in the coming days as the investigation progresses.
According to state-run news agency Xinhua, nucleic tests were performed on 8,000 people working or closely linked to the Xinfadi market and on the residents of the neighbourhoods that were shut down after primary cases broke out from there on June 12.
Even as lockdown restrictions have been eased in European countries and borders are being lifted, WHO has warned countries to stay on alert for a possible resurgence of COVID-19 infections.
However, there were increasing number of cases in Africa, eastern Europe, central Asia and the Middle East, he added.
