Residents line up to take nucleic acid test on January 26,2022,at Fuchengwuqi community in Yanjiao town, Sanhe, North China's Hebei Province.Sanhe reports one positive COVID-19 case on Wednesday. Photo: Hao Lei/GT

From 4 pm on Monday to 4 pm on Tuesday, Beijing reported seven COVID-19 cases and one asymptomatic case, while its neighboring city Langfang entered a citywide lockdown on Tuesday morning. 

Sequencing of the viral genes of the 14 recent cases in Beijing showed that all were caused by the Omicron variant, officials said at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon. 

Since March 7, Beijing has reported a total of 43 cases of domestically transmitted COVID-19 infections, mainly caused by imports from outside Beijing and involving seven districts in the city. There have been clusters of outbreaks in office buildings, schools and multiple households, officials said. 

Xu Hejian, spokesperson for the Beijing municipal government said that all residents who have recently come or returned to Beijing from high- or medium-risk areas for COVID-19 should undergo health observation and that all residents should not leave the city for the moment unless it is necessary. 

Since many students were infected in the current outbreak in Beijing, Xu noted that schools should be made a key site for epidemic prevention. "We must strengthen health monitoring of teachers and students in primary and secondary schools, increase the frequency of nucleic acid testing, and include people living with them in the health monitoring system."

On Tuesday, Langfang announced that it had entered a city-wide lockdown due to the local COVID-19 outbreak. 

A Beijing citizen surnamed Lu who works in Langfang told the Global Times that he was not allowed to do his daily commute since Langfang was hit by the COVID-19 resurgence. 

"I have been staying in Beijing and working from home since last week. On Tuesday morning, as Langfang entered lockdown, I was informed that I will go into a 14-day quarantine and take two nucleic acid tests in seven days," Lu said. 

Langfang has been hit by a COVID-19 resurgence since March 9. The city has registered 72 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 379 asymptomatic cases in six days as of Monday.