The city announced the intensified health emergency footing late in the day, after having revealed that medical authorities confirmed another 27 infections from the virus, creating a total of 106 cases since last week, all traced to the sprawling Xinfadi wholesale food market in the city’s south. Early Wednesday, 31 more cases were reported, bringing the total to 137.
“Epidemic trends in Beijing are very grim,” Chen Bei, a deputy secretary-general of the Beijing government, said at a news conference announcing the upgraded emergency response. She said that the new plethora of measures to halt infections were not intended to strangle economic life.
“A level two response doesn’t require stopping production and work,” she said. “It’s encouraging remote and flexible work.”
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