New COVID Case Reported in Shunyi, Connected to Lianzhu Gardens

The 34-year-old man surnamed Fu resides in Lianzhu Gardens compound in Shunyi – a small complex across the street from Line 15's China International Exhibition Center stop – and works in Haidian.

A map indicating where Fu works (North East) and lives (North West)

Fu is asymptomatic, and is not aware of any close contact he has had with any other cases in Beijing or elsewhere, nor had he left the city within the past 14 days.

Chinese news sources say the Lianzhu Gardens complex has now been locked down and no one inside will be able to leave for the next 14 days.

Fu lives with his wife, 2-year-old child, and his 62-year-old parents, none of whom are exhibiting symptoms.

His wife reportedly works in an office in Terminal 2 of the Beijing International Airport but has not had any contact with anyone that has come in from overseas. When asked about her history of possible routes of transmission over the past two weeks, the wife reported ordering some frozen shrimp and meats from Meituan on Dec 13, and that on Dec 21 she and some coworkers made a trip to a Shunfeng Express Delivery company in Wangjing’s Fu’an Lu and came in contact with some delivery staff.

The news broke this afternoon when at least three schools in the Shunyi area sent questionnaires around to ask if any of their students or staff have visited Lianzhu Gardens. Those who have been there are being requested to get a COVID-19 test prior to returning to school after the Christmas/New Year holidays.

The news of the case, along with the news that Beijing now contains a medium-risk area, amount to a veritable wave of unsettling news on COVID-19 in Beijing after several months of calm. Earlier this week, Beijing broke its streak of over three months without a local infection when a man who had undergone a 14-day quarantine upon re-entering the country nevertheless came down with the virus a day later, and it was subsequently learned that two people he had close contact with near where he was staying had contracted the virus.

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