Universal Studios Beijing says close contacts of COVID patients visited park

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: People walk past a giant sign of the Universal Beijing Resort ahead of its opening, in Beijing, China August 27, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Beijing’s Universal Studios theme park boosted health monitoring and tested all staff after it was informed by health authorities that close contacts of COVID-19 cases visited the resort on Oct. 24, it said in a social media post on Saturday.

The close contacts are under close monitoring and in isolation, and have tested negative for COVID-19, the theme park said in a post on its official Weibo account.

State media reported on Friday citing the Beijing government that the resort would enter “emergency pandemic prevention status”.

“Out of prudent consideration for the health and safety of visitors, we are fully cooperating with the disease control and prevention department to notify those who visited the park on Oct. 24 to undergo nucleic acid tests and necessary health monitoring,” Universal Studios said in the post.

The Beijing resort said it had tested all staff and environmental sampling had shown no traces of the coronavirus.

Mainland China recorded its highest number of daily local new COVID-19 infections in more than six weeks on Friday, as the country battles an outbreak concentrated mainly in its northern provinces.