Beijing Pepsi factory stops production after rise in Covid-19 cases

The coronavirus infection which started from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in China, and spread across the world has come back to haunt the Communist country. After grand proclamations that China has eliminated the virus, and making snide remarks at other countries for not being able to control the pandemic, China finds the virus back on its soil.

Capital city Beijing is facing the brunt of  the re-emergence of the virus as new cases emerge everyday. A PepsiCo food factory in Beijing has suspended production after eight Covid-19 cases were found after some of the people had been to the Chinese capital's wholesale food market where a fresh coronavirus outbreak was reported last week.

Two of the cases from the factory in Daxing district had been to the Xinfadi wholesale market, Xinhua news agency quoted Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing center for disease control and prevention, announcing to the media on Sunday.

The factory has initiated an emergency response and took measures including suspending the production and operation, sealing the products, disinfecting the environment and quarantining the personnel, according to Fan Zhimin, an official with the PepsiCo Greater China Region.

The information at the website of the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System shows the suspended factory mainly processes grains and produces potato-related and puffed food.

Beijing has reported over 200 domestically transmitted Covid-19 cases since June 11, mostly in connection with the Xinfadi market. Ever since the virus was  first detected at the market, Beijing is on a war-mode to curb the spread. Schools and markets have been closed and neighborhoods sealed, however, the capital city is reporting new cases  every day. Even flights have been suspended to other provinces so that the Covid-19 does not spread to other parts of the country.

From June 11 to 20, Beijing had reported 227 confirmed domestically transmitted cases, all of whom were receiving treatment in hospitals..