#Beijing reports over 100 new cases of coronavirus, expands lockdown

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A man wearing a protective suit shouts at people waiting in line for a coronavirus test in Beijing.
Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

More than 100 people in Beijing have been infected with the coronavirus as Chinese authorities rush to prevent further spread of the disease.

The resurgence comes as officials locked down a third neighborhood in Beijing Tuesday.

China reported 40 more cases of coronavirus across the country through the end of Monday, including 27 in Beijing. That brought the total number of infections to 106 in the nation’s capital since Thursday.

At least one patient was in critical condition and two were in serious condition. Four cases were also reported in neighboring Hebei province, with three linked to the outbreak in Beijing.

Most of the cases have been connected to the Xinfadi wholesale food market. Residents have been urged to get tested if they visited the market in the past two weeks or came into contact with someone who did.

The initial spread happened among market workers, according to Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

He said this recent outbreak was detected early enough to be able to contain it.

“For those who were infected, they will start showing symptoms either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” he told state broadcaster CCTV. “So, if there’s no sharp increase of newly reported cases tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, the outbreak this time will basically stay at the current scale.”

China has relaxed many lockdown restrictions since declaring a victory over coronavirus in March. The bug was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

The country has recorded 84,378 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 4,638 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

With Post wires