GLOBAL stocks have slumped following fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections.
It comes as Beijing quarantined tens of thousands of residents and ordered mass testing after the number of coronavirus cases linked to an enormous market in the south of the capital jumped to 79 - the largest tally since February.
The health authorities are urging anyone who has visited the Xinfadi wholesale market, the largest in Asia, since May 30 to get tested and stay at home.
The news comes as Beijing went 50 days without reporting a single case and now there are fears over a second wave as the market sells 80% of Beijing's vegetables and meat.
"The risk of the epidemic spreading is very high, so we should take resolute and decisive measures," Xu Hejiang, spokesperson for the Beijing city government, said.
Meawhile in the Italian capital of Rome, an entire apartment block has been placed in lockdown over second wave fears.
The second wave concerns have come as Europe looks to lift travel and stay-at-home restrictions for the 420 million people living in the 26 countries that form the so-called Schengen area, as well as Britain's move to open stores and shops as it continues to ease lockdown orders in Europe's third-largest economy.
On Monday morning, the markets reacted with the FTSE 100 index down 74.88 points late on Monday trading, or 1.23%, at 6,030. At one point it had plunged below the 6000 point barrier.
Japan's Nikkei was 3% down while all the major stock markets in Europe registered losses at the open with the CAC in Paris, German DAX and Spanish IBEX all down close to 3%.
US stocks followed suit as investors with nearly half of the 50 US states seeing a rebound in infections as re-openings continue.
The Dow Jones industrial average was initially at 24,900.40, down 2.8% (705 points).
North Carolina and Texas reported record hospitalisations on Saturday, while Florida, California, and Alabama posted sharp increases in daily cases.
Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, commented: "The numbers are still very low in the Chinese capital, but the risks are high which may explain the apprehension we're seeing in the markets."
China now has some of the strictest controls in place and has wasted no time in its attempt to prevent a major eruption.
State media is using the term ‘’wartime measures’’ to describe the safeguards being reintroduced.
As of Monday morning, 79 new cases have been reported in the last four days mostly workers from the market, people who had shopped there or close contacts of those people.
The Xinfadi market, in the Fengtai district of Beijing supplies more than three quarters of the capital's fruit and vegetables.
It is also a wholesale supplier of seafood and meat.
It was shut down on Friday night and initial tests from the premise have found traces of coronavirus on chopping boards used to cut imported salmon.
That has prompted the withdrawal of all salmon products in shops and restaurants.
Exactly how the virus came to be among the salmon products is still unclear but the Chinese authorities say they believe it originated in Europe.
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