Beijing turns into ‘nogo zone’ amid rising cases of COVID-19

After Beijing sees COVID-19 infection spike, it seems that the capital has now become a “no-go zone” for other parts of China, as many places have raised alert to travels to Beijing and strengthened health check on arrivals from Beijing.

Meanwhile, after being locked in the capital for almost half a year, many Beijing residents yeaning for a vacation for the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival or summer travel season after the epidemic had ebbed away, only found that their travel plan would be disrupted by the sudden spike of local infections in Beijing. Some Beijing residents simply choose not to leave the city over fears of strict quarantine measures they may face in other places.

Experts believe that strict measures are reasonable, but they should not go too far as only certain areas were hit by the virus in Beijing. Moreover, the city’s swift response to the spread of the virus has been comprehensive.

Three provinces – Northeast China’s Liaoning, North China’s Hebei and Southwest China’s Sichuan – have reported more COVID-19 cases that had close contacts with infections in Beijing.

Beijing reported 36 new local confirmed cases on Sunday, bringing the total to 79 from Thursday.

Hebei’s health authority reported three more cases and one more asymptomatic case on Sunday, all of whom had close contacts with Beijing’s cases. Baoding, a city in North China’s Hebei Province, declared it was entering wartime status due to its geographic proximity with Beijing.

The Northeastern Chinese city of Daqing is imposing a 21-day quarantine for people returning there from Beijing, media reported on Monday.

Meanwhile, some Beijing residents are cancelling their travel plans for fear of being quarantined and stuck in places elsewhere.

A government employee in Changsha, Hunan Province, said that anyone travelling to Changsha from Beijing should first contact the local community of where they are planning to stay. Based on their situation, the Changsha community will then decide whether the traveler will be subject to quarantine.

Many cities, such as Chongqing and Chengdu, have notified their residents to report anyone who has come from Beijing in the last 14 days.

Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told media on Monday that only certain parts of Beijing had been hit by the virus, so the rest of China should make a distinction between people from high risk and low risk parts of Beijing, adding that there is no need to put restrictions on those arriving from or living in low risk areas.