Beijing reports 55 new local COVID-19 cases

BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Beijing reported 51 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and four asymptomatic cases between 3 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, local authorities have said.

A makeshift hospital located in Xiaotangshan Township in the capital's northern suburb was put into use on Sunday, and has received 12 patients, Li Ang, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, told a press conference on Sunday.

So far, 40 medical staff, including eight doctors and 30 nurses, are treating 12 asymptomatic cases and patients with mild symptoms in the makeshift hospital, Li added.

Beijing on Sunday classified one area as a high-risk area and six others as medium-risk areas, bringing the total number of high-risk areas in Beijing to seven and medium-risk areas to 28.

Gene sequencing of 158 infected samples collected since April 22 showed there are currently two transmission chains in Beijing, said Pang Xinghuo, deputy head of the Beijing municipal disease prevention and control center.

"Most of the newly infected cases were found among personnel under closed-off management, and a small number of infected cases were found through community screening," Pang said.

Nearly 22 million samples were collected during the third round of citywide nucleic acid testing in Beijing from April 29 to 30, in which eight tubes of mixed sampling for COVID-19 were found positive, according to Li.

He added that two more rounds of nucleic acid testing would take place in Beijing between May 1 and 4.