WHO Director-General Tedros said Monday during a press briefing that more than 100 new coronavirus infections have now been confirmed in Beijing. A Global Times article today noted, regarding investigation of the first 79 of these cases: “The coronavirus found in Beijing’s Xinfadi wholesale market is probably more infectious than those detected in Wuhan’s Huanan seafood market, where the first wave of epidemic in the country was detected, given a significant number of cases confirmed in only four days in the capital city, a virologist said on Monday. Yang Zhanqiu, deputy director of the pathogen biology department at Wuhan University, told the Global Times on Monday that the 79 cases were confirmed in four days, showing the coronavirus found in Beijing is extremely contagious, likely more contagious than that found in Wuhan.”
In Wuhan only 62 infections had been confirmed by Jan. 17, some 18 days after the first. It must be noted, however, that Beijing authorities say they have carried out 200,000 screens for coronavirus to confirm something over 100 cases.
