Photo: Li Hao/GT

Three restaurant workers are among the eight confirmed COVID-19 cases reported on Sunday in Beijing, said Beijing health authorities, raising public concerns about the safety of dining out.

A 37-year-old male restaurant worker who shopped at the Xinfadi wholesale food market on June 4 developed symptoms of COVID-19 on June 8, according to the authorities. 

One of his close contact, a 35-year-old woman from North China's Hebei Province, also developed fever and other symptoms on Friday and has tested positive for COVID-19. Some branches of the restaurant named Dahaiwan have closed off. 

A 34-year-old female employee of a Sichuan cuisine restaurant in Fengtai district, where the Xinfadi market is located, also tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday. One of her restaurant's ingredients is from the Xinfadi wholesale food market, which was closed after the coronavirus was detected on a fishmonger's chopping board used for imported salmon.

The patient developed symptoms of fatigue and body soreness on June 8, and tested positive for the coronavirus twice at local hospitals on Wednesday and Friday, according to the authority.

The owners of the restaurant are asking all their recent guests to be tested for the virus, although it has not yet been ordered to close. The restaurant now has five employees and four others are under quarantine. 

The Beijing Haidian Catering Service Trade Association issued a notice on Friday night calling for a halt to group dinning. The Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau has raised prevention and control measures for food industry to level II.  

Restaurants are required to monitor visitors' body temperature and ask dinners to keep at least one meter away from each other.

"These infection cases will hit the entire restaurant industry very hard. Most people are now concerned about the risk of eating at restaurants in Beijing and are minimizing their restaurant dining," a Sina Weibo user wrote.