Beijing orders new quarantine centres as cases rise

BEIJING: Residents of some parts of China’s capital were emptying supermarket shelves and overwhelming delivery apps on Friday as the city government ordered faster construction of COVID-19 quarantine centres and field hospitals.

Uncertainty and scatered, unconfirmed reports of lockdowns in at least some Beijing districts have fuelled demand for food and other supplies, something not seen in the city for months.

Unusually large numbers of shoppers in the city’s northern suburbs let shelves bare in markets, but customers were relatively few in the centre of the city of 21 million, where supplies remained abundant.

Daily cases of COVID-19 across the country are hiting records, with 32,695 reported on Friday. Of those, 1,860 were in Beijing, the majority of them asymptomatic.

Improvised quarantine centres and field hospitals hastily thrown up in gymnasiums, exhibition centres and other large, open indoor spaces have become notorious for overcrowding, poor sanitation, scarce food supplies and lights that stay on 24 hours.

Most residents of the city have already been advised not to leave their compounds, some of which are being fenced in. At entrances, workers clad head to toe in white hazmat suits stop unauthorised people and make sure residents show a recent negative COVID-19 test result on their cellphone health apps to gain entry.

Several university campuses have been closed off and students in lower grades have been shited to online classes.

Meanwhile, some of Beijing’s grocery delivery services have reached capacity.

An increase in demand combined with a worker shortage let some customers unable to book same-day delivery slots on Friday for food and supplies from popular online grocery services such as Alibaba’s Freshippo and Meituan Maicai.

Online, some Chinese users said some delivery personnel were unable to work because their compounds were locked down. The reports could not be verified.

Alibaba did not immediately comment. At a Friday aternoon news conference, city government spokesperson Xu Hejian said it was necessary “to strengthen the management and service guarantee” of quarantine centres and field hospitals where people who test positive for COVID-19 or have been in close contact with an infected person are taken by police.

Authorities must “further accelerate” their construction and “co-ordinate the allocation of space, facilities, materials, personnel and other resources,” Xu said.