Bar's failure in carrying out measures led to 'explosive' transmission, official says

Beijing has launched a citywide check on epidemic control and prevention procedures in all entertainment venues, including bars, nightclubs, karaoke bars and internet cafes, following the latest COVID-19 cluster linked to a bar in the Sanlitun area.

All entertainment venues, internet cafes, underground gyms and sports facilities in Chaoyang district where the bar is located were ordered to suspend operation from Thursday afternoon when the cluster was first reported.

In the Sanlitun area, around 700 restaurants have suspended dine-in service. A total of 74 bars and 67 entertainment venues are closed, according to Chaoyang district on Tuesday.

Haidian district has suspended the operations of 278 entertainment venues including all bars, internet cafes and escape rooms, according to Xiao Dan, spokeswoman for the district government.

Beijing's newly reported COVID-19 cluster involving a bar has led to 287 infections between midnight Thursday and 3 pm Tuesday, involving most districts in the city, Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, said at a news conference on Tuesday.

The city reported 74 new infections on Monday and 30 more as of 3 pm on Tuesday, according to Liu, who said the epidemic outbreak is still developing and the risks of infection and the virus spreading further still exist.

"The infected people have been to a wide range of places in the city, which has added to the difficulties of epidemic control," he said.

Of the 287 new infections, 213 had been to a bar named Heaven Supermarket. Five are employees of the bar and 69 are related to confirmed cases. As of Tuesday afternoon, Beijing had three medium-risk areas for COVID-19.

On Tuesday evening, Chaoyang district's market supervision bureau announced that it will revoke the business license of the company that runs Heaven Supermarket. Meanwhile, it has delivered a notice of administrative punishment to the company and will include it on a list of companies that have committed serious violations.

Beijing police have also filed a criminal case investigating Heaven Supermarket, as well as the person in charge of the bar, said Pan Xuhong, spokesman of Beijing police bureau. Pan added that the bar is suspected on a criminal level of impairing the prevention and control of infectious diseases.

Pan said the bar failed to follow epidemic control and prevention procedures, including taking temperatures and checking the nucleic acid test results of patrons.

"It did not keep the number of customers at a reasonable level, either, which led to the explosive growth of infections over the following days," he said.