BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing's recent outbreak of COVID-19 that has been linked to bars in the capital is "explosive" in nature, widespread in scope and complex, a Beijing government spokesman said in a briefing on Saturday.

       The capital has reported 46 new local COVID cases on Saturday as of 3 p.m. local time (0700 GMT), health official Liu Xiaofeng said at the same briefing.

       Of a total of 1,946 local COVID cases reported since April 22, a total of 115 cases were connected to the bar cluster, Liu said.

       (Reporting by Ryan Woo in Beijing and Andrew Galbraith in Shanghai; Editing by Kim Coghill)