Beijing reported two imported COVID-19 cases on Friday and the city had no local confirmed infections for 78 days in a row, a senior official said on Saturday.

Xu Hejian, spokesman for the municipal government, said at a news conference that Beijing had 181 imported confirmed cases in total since the epidemic occurred and currently three imported cases are receiving medical treatment in a Beijing hospital.

"To strictly prevent possible infection from overseas is still the key and major task," he said.

Liu Xiaofeng, deputy head of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, reminded the public that people should not go overseas if not necessary.

He introduced the details of the two new cases, who returned from Pakistan on flight CA 946 on Oct 8.

The two male confirmed patients had received nucleic acid testing after arrival and results for both were negative.

They had sore throats on Thursday while in centralized quarantine and each received another nucleic acid test with the result positive.

The hotels they were staying during the quarantine have been fully disinfected, Liu said.