BEIJING (Reuters) – A Beijing district official said on Saturday the district was in “wartime emergency mode” following a spike in novel coronavirus cases centered around a major wholesale market there.

Chu Junwei, an official of Beijing’s Fengtai district, said at a briefing that throat swabs from 45 people, out of 517 tested at the district’s Xinfadi market, had tested positive for the new coronavirus.

Beijing will suspend sports events and inter-provincial tourism, effective immediately, a city spokesman said at the same briefing.

The spokesman said all six confirmed coronavirus patients in Beijing on Friday had visited the Xinfadi market.