
China reported 57 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, the highest daily figure since April, reported news agency AFP.
The domestic outbreak in China was containedthrough strict lockdowns that were imposed early this year -- but a new outbreak has been linked to a meat and vegetable market in south Beijing.
The National Health Commission (NHC) said 36 of the new cases were domestic infections in the capital as concerns grow about a resurgence of the disease.
The other two domestic infections reported Sunday were in northeastern Liaoning province, and local health officials said they were close contacts of the Beijing cases.
The alert was sounded after the NHC confirmed the first cases in Beijing for two months on Friday and city officials delayed the return of students in primary schools that had not already resumed classes.
Several of the new cases were linked to the Xinfadi wholesale market, and more cases connected with the market emerged Saturday after wider testing.
Also read:Beijing wholesale market temporarily shut after new coronavirus infections
Meanwhile, authorities in Beijing have temporarily shut a major wholesale agricultural market following a rise in locally transmitted novel coronavirus infections in China's capital city over the past two days.
The closure of the Xinfadi wholesale market at 3 a.m. local time on Saturday (1900 GMT on Friday), came after two men working at a meat research centre who had recently visited the market were reported on Friday as having been infected by the novel coronavirus. It was not immediately clear how the men had been infected.