Beijing Reports First Confirmed Case of Covid-19 in 134 Days

What’s new: The Beijing Municipal Health Commission on Friday recorded two new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases with symptoms, both linked to a previously reported imported case, according to the authority’s announcement (link in Chinese) released on Saturday.

The two people infected worked at a Qing-Feng Steamed Dumpling Shop in Beijing, and both had been in close contact with a person responsible for an imported case on Dec. 14. Before this, Beijing municipality had not reported a confirmed case in 134 days, according to the local health commission.

On Friday, China reported 17 new cases with symptoms, 14 of which were imported, according to a Saturday statement (link in Chinese) by the national health body. Of the three locally transmitted cases, Beijing reported two and Northeast China’s Liaoning province reported the other.

What’s the background: At the end of Friday, the Chinese mainland had 307 existing confirmed cases with symptoms, the country’s top health body said.

As of Saturday morning in Beijing, the number of global Covid-19 cases had topped 75.5 million, with more than 1.67 million deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

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Cover Story: The Daunting Challenge of Immunizing the World

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Contact reporter Timmy Shen (hongmingshen@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)

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