District-level hospitals in Beijing to resume normal services

2020-03-24

All district-level medical institutions in Beijing will suspend receiving newly confirmed novel coronavirus patients from Saturday, according to a notice released by the local government on Friday.

The patients will instead be admitted in municipal-level designated local hospitals.

All suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases will be received at municipal designated hospitals for further medical treatment from March 21, according to the notice. And  district-level hospitals will resume their normal medical services from Monday.

"A complete and thorough disinfection will be carried out at the capital's district-level medical institutions to guarantee the resumption of work at those hospitals," said Gao Xiaojun, spokesman for Beijing Municipal Health Commission, during Saturday's media briefing on containing the virus. "Experts will also evaluate whether these medical institutions can receive patients."

All medical institutions in Beijing should use epidemic prevention big-data system to check and examine the travel history and health condition of patients to guide them being treated in specific clinics and avoid cross infections, Gao said.

The capital saw a steady increase in imported novel coronavirus cases on Friday with 14 cases infected from overseas confirmed.

Among the newly confirmed cases, seven patients are from the United Kingdom, taking up half of the total confirmed Friday, two each from the United States and Spain, and one each from France, the Netherlands and Italy, said Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The 14 patients infected with COVID-19 are all inbound travelers flying from 11 international flights, said Pang.

By Saturday noon, a total of 89 imported cases had been reported in Beijing with seven cured and released from hospitals, according to the city's municipal health commission.