Beijing imposes travel curbs to tackle outbreak

BEIJING/TOKYO: China’s capital city on Sunday stepped up measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus cases by virtually banning people from travelling to Beijing from provinces with high Covid-19 transmission rates.

Beijing has rolled out a range of measures to strengthen the management of personnel returning from the most affected regions, including imposing restrictions on their purchase of railway tickets and air services, Global Times reported.

People from medium or highrisk regions or planning to return to Beijing but have a travel history related to these regions will be prevented from buying tickets for air and railway services. If they choose to drive into the Chinese capital, they will also be persuaded to make a U-turn and leave, the paper said.

The Global Times report said health codes for people who are in medium and high-risk regions will be adjusted to the yellow colour, and anyone with a health code that is not green will not be allowed to board planes or trains bound for Beijing. Presenting a green health code will be a must.

The Chinese mainland on Saturday reported about 150 cases from several provinces including Jiangsu, Henan, Yunnan, Hubei and Hunan, according to the National Health Commission.

Top health official says US is ‘failing’ on Covid-19

With the US recording its highest daily caseload in six months, a top public health official said the country is “failing”. “We shouldn’t really have ever got to the place we are,” Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told ABC. “We are failing.” The total daily new cases have surged to 118,000, the highest since February; deaths are up 89% over the past two weeks.

Tokyo, which hosted the Olympics, saw over 4,000 new cases in the past 24 hours. The daily spike in cases topped the mark for the fifth straight day.

Saudi Arabia said it will begin accepting vaccinated foreign pilgrims seeking to visit the holy city of Mecca, around 18 months after a border closure.