A person passes by Heaven Supermarket bar, which has been closed, in Beijing on June 9. Photo: CFP

The sporadic outbreak that started at a bar in Beijing is at a rapidly spreading stage and the transmission risk remains high, said a Beijing health official on Saturday as infections related to the outbreak amounted to 115 as of 3 pm on Saturday. 

More cases are expected to be discovered among visitors to the bar and their close contacts, deputy director of Beijing disease control and prevention center Liu Xiaofeng said at a press conference on Saturday.

Beijing reported 46 new cases on Saturday as of 3 pm, which were all discovered among people who had already been placed under centralized quarantine due to the outbreak, according to Beijing officials.  

Among the cases, 107 are visitors to the bar named Heaven Supermarket located in Sanlitun in Chaoyang district, including three people who work at the Universal Beijing Resort. Two are employees of the bar and the other six are those who contacted visitors to the bar, according to authorities. 

In total, 6,158 close contacts of the confirmed infection cases and another 901 secondary close contacts had been identified, Yang Beibei, deputy director of the Chaoyang district, said at the Saturday press conference. 

One of the cases reportedly has not received nucleic acid test for 14 days. The case visited the bar on June 6 despite the requirement of Beijing authority that people have to show negative nucleic acid test results taken within the previous 72 hours before entering any public place, media reported.

The case got a fever on June 8 evening. Despite the fever, the case visited the bar again on early June 9 and received a positive result after a nucleic acid test on the same day.

Beijing authorities stressed at the Saturday press conference that major industries like  restaurants and entertainment venues have must accept responsibility to ask visitors to scan health codes, monitor employee's health conditions strictly and disinfect venues .   

So far, 54 employees of the bar and three of their roommates have been put under centralized quarantine, media reported Saturday.

The Global Times reporter learned that some districts in Chaoyang have been locked down for 10 days starting Saturday for being found related to the outbreak. Some districts kicked off mass nucleic acid testing in the following three consecutive days.   

The sporadic COVID-9 cases found in Beijing and Shanghai and the tightening of regional measures have cast a shadow on the gradual reopening of China's two largest cities. But observers said the resumption of normal life and work in the two cities and across the country will not be impeded as China has updated its regular epidemic policy to better cope with the stealth Omicron based on experience from the last two months.

Global Times