Food and beverage giant PepsiCo has suspended operations in Beijing after some of its employees tested positive for the coronavirus in the Chinese capital, where the city officials are conducting COVID-19 tests on millions, especially employees of restaurants, food delivery services and market vendors.

China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said on Sunday that it had reported 32 new COVID-19 cases in the country.

Of the domestically transmitted cases, 22 cases were detected in Beijing and three in neighbouring Hebei Province, the NHC said.

Also on Saturday, seven new asymptomatic cases were reported, it said, adding that 111 asymptomatic cases, including 58 from overseas, were still under medical observation.

Municipal Health Commission of Beijing, where the new cluster of cases were reported, said that from June 11 to 20, the capital had reported 227 confirmed domestically transmitted cases, all of whom were receiving treatment in hospitals.

There are 18 asymptomatic cases still under medical observation, and one imported case hospitalised in Beijing, the commission said.

The state-run People’s Daily reported that PepsiCo Beijing has suspended operations after some of its employees tested positive for the coronavirus.

Till Saturday, Beijing had sampled a total of 2.29 million people for nucleic acid tests during its screening for COVID-19 cases between June 11 to 20, local officials said.

The is part of the efforts to test employees of all food-related services including restaurants and food delivery firms.

An Indian restaurant owner said that tests of all his employees had come as  negative.

Beijing is the second Chinese city which resorted to mass testing. Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December last year, tested almost all of its 11 million residents last month.

Beijing began efforts to contain coronavirus on war footing after the new clusters of cases emerged from May 30 from the city’s main Xinfadi wholesale market.