A medic takes a throat swab from a resident of Tiantongyuan community in Beijing's Changping district on Tuesday, after a woman who stayed there tested positive for COVID-19. Two temporary nucleic acid testing stations were set up overnight on Monday and aimed to test all the residents in the community on Tuesday. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Beijing reported two new local cases on Thursday amid the latest COVID-19 outbreak in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, which has been spreading to multiple places in the country since it started on July 21. 

The capital city has not seen any local infections since the end of January.

The two patients, who are a couple, had both traveled to Zhangjiajie, Central China's Hunan Province, which has become a new hotspot in the latest outbreak. As of Thursday, at least seven cities in four provinces have found patients who recently have been to Zhangjiajie, of whom some flew to Nanjing Lukou International Airport for transit. 

The couple returned to Beijing from their trip on Sunday on a high-speed train and spent around one hour on three metro lines on their way back home in Changping district. 

They then tested positive on Wednesday, both with mild symptoms. All 654 people who had contact with the couple have been put under medical observations. 

The residential community where they live and nine neighboring communities, with a total of around 41,000 residents, have been sealed off, said Tong Lizhi, vice head of Changping.

More than 38,000 people from where the couple lives, works and had been to have received nucleic acid testing as of 12: 00 pm on Thursday. No positive results were found as of press time. 

Nanjing has seen 171 local confirmed cases in the latest outbreak, with 18 newly reported on Thursday.