BEIJING — A Chinese public health expert says an outbreak of the coronavirus in Beijing is under control and the number of new cases should drop in the coming days.

Wu Zunyou from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention told a news conference Thursday that such outbreaks are inevitable but that this one was larger than expected because it happened in a major market.

Authorities have confirmed 158 cases in Beijing in the past week. Most if not all have been linked to the city's largest wholesale food market, where thousands of people work. Wu said workers in the seafood section were infected first and in greater numbers than those in the meat and vegetable sections.

Tests for the coronavirus in food imports, conducted across the country following the market outbreak, were all negative, a customs administration notice said.

A city transport spokesman said at the news conference that bus service between Beijing and other provinces would be suspended starting Friday to try to prevent the outbreak's spread.