Beijing reported no new local COVID-19 cases on Monday for the first time in 26 days, and it's possible that the capital will lower its public health emergency response from the second level to the third as long as no new cluster of infections occurs, expert said.

Municipal government spokesman Xu Hejian said at a news conference on Tuesday that the fact that the number of new local cases dropped to zero proved the effectiveness of the city's control and prevention measures.

"However, zero new cases doesn't mean no risks," he said. "We have to stay alert and contain the epidemic with continuous effort."

Before Monday, Beijing had reported new local cases in the single digits for eight days in a row, evidence that Beijing's epidemic is under control.

By Monday, Beijing's total number of confirmed cases was 335 since the city reported the first case on June 11. Fifteen patients have been discharged from hospital and 320 are being treated.

According to the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 47 communities in 11 districts in the city have found confirmed COVID-19 cases since June 11. At the peak, there were five high-risk communities and 39 medium-risk communities.

By Monday, there was only one community that was designated high-risk, with 20 others deemed medium-and low-risk citywide, Xu said.

According to the national standard, cities, counties and districts with no active cases or with no new infections in the past 14 days are categorized as low-risk; those with new infections in the past 14 days and fewer than 50 cumulative confirmed cases, or with over 50 cumulative confirmed cases but without a concentrated outbreak in the past 14 days, are categorized as medium-risk.

Starting on Saturday, residents in Beijing's low-risk areas no longer need to have negative nucleic acid test results when leaving the city.

It seems people can expect that Beijing will ease its restrictions on community lockdowns in the near future as the capital has contained the spread of infections.

Wang Hufeng, head of the healthcare reform center of Renmin University of China, said Beijing might lower its response level in the next week or the week after as long as no new cluster occurs, according to a report by Red Star News on Monday.

On June 16, Beijing raised its public health emergency response from the third to the second level due to a rapidly rising number of new COVID-19 infections of more than 100 in just five days.

Starting on Tuesday afternoon, the first batch of 5,000 people who work at Xinfadi wholesale market, to which all the cases in the current cluster are connected, have completed their centralized quarantines and have shown negative test results. They will be relocated with follow-up health monitoring and psychological guidance.