People in Beijing's Chaoyang district are getting nucleic acid tests in their neighborhood. The city's numerous nucleic acid testing sites for large-scale testing that had been set up along the roadsides and around commercial and office areas were temporarily closed in Chaoyang district starting from Monday. Photo: ifeng

Beijing reported a new COVID-19 death on Saturday, the country's first such death in almost six months after the last death was confirmed on May 26 in Shanghai.

An 87-year-old male died of sepsis triggered by a serious lung infection on Saturday. The man reportedly was suffering from dry cough symptoms on November 11 and was confirmed as COVID-19 positive two days later.

Jin Ronghua, dean of Beijing Ditan Hospital of Capital Medical University, revealed more details of the patient at Sunday's press conference. Jin said the man was suffering from long-term hypertension, a cerebral infarction and cerebellar atrophy, and was transferred to Beijing Ditan Hospital for treatment on November 13 and had a tendency of sepsis. 

"The patient experienced sepsis shock on Saturday, which has a death rate as high as 75 percent. The patient's family gave up invasive medical treatment for the individual after the hospital fully informed them of the situation," Jin said. 

According to statistics released by the national health commission, it has been more than six months since China reported its last two COVID-19 deaths in Shanghai on May 25 and May 26 respectively. Those two cases involved an 87 year old and 63 female who both died from underlying diseases.

Beijing reported 621 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, with 122 identified outside quarantine zones through community level test screening, triggering many restaurants to suspended eat-in services.

Multiple schools in Beijing's eastern district of Tongzhou reverted to online classes from November 20 for a week. 

Officials from Beijing's Chaoyang district, a major business and diplomatic hub, on Saturday press conference urged residents to stay at home, following two notices posted on its official WeChat account on Friday advising residents to avoid cross-district travel and large gathering over the weekend.

Beijing's suburban Fangshan district on Saturday urged people entering from outside the district to directly report their travel history and receive additional testing.

Seven other districts, including Dongcheng, Xicheng, Tongzhou, Yanqing, Changping, Shunyi and Haidian similarly released notices through their official media accounts calling on people to reduce cross-district movement and avoid unnecessary trips.