Two customers walk out of a shopping mall in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province on February 19. Photo: cnsphotos

 Beijing's Dongcheng district recently reported that a confirmed COVID-19 patient had returned from Wuhan on Saturday, leading to questions over how the patient was able to leave the city, as the epidemic epicenter has been under lockdown since January 23.

The patient's condition is mild and stable and three of her close contacts were put under medical observation at a quarantine center in Dongcheng district on the day she arrived in Beijing on Saturday, reported The Beijing News.

The woman, surnamed Huang, was found on Monday in a residential community in Dongcheng district. She came to Beijing from Wuhan on Saturday and underwent inspection right after her arrival, as she has been suffering intermittent fevers and throat pain since February 18 in Wuhan, said the Beijing Center for Diseases Prevention and Control (BJCDC) on Wednesday. 

According to BJCDC, the patient was driven to Beijing by her Beijing-based family members on midnight Saturday, and entered the community where her family members live after her temperature was checked. She was later sent to the isolation center on Saturday night.

BJCDC did not mention how the woman left Wuhan.

An insider told yicai.com that the woman is an ex-convict who had just been released from a Wuhan prison and was diagnosed in Wuhan. As she was from Beijing, after being released from prison, her family drove her back to the capital in a car.

The community has now been closed off and disinfected thoroughly in all public areas, said the community committee. 

As of Wednesday afternoon, 12 cases were confirmed in Dongcheng district, Beijing.