CAPITAL TO SHARPEN DEFENCES AHEAD OF LABOUR DAY HOLIDAY
Arrivals in Beijing to be tested three times and must avoid crowds for 7 days as city finds more cases
Beijing found 49 new community cases of Covid-19 yesterday – two of them asymptomatic – almost a week after the capital moved swiftly to stem small outbreaks.
There were also two imported infections, both of which came from Hong Kong.
Three rounds of mass testing for about 20 million people in Beijing began on Monday in an attempt to prevent a similar ordeal to what is being seen in Shanghai, which has been in various forms of lockdown for more than a month. Only a few dozen cases have been recorded daily in Beijing in the first two rounds, with 56 infections reported on Thursday.
Since the outbreak began a week ago, 228 cases have been recorded in 12 districts, including 101 in Chaoyang and 62 in Fangshan.
Many of the new cases reported yesterday were teachers and students from schools.
Li Ang, deputy director of the city’s health commission, said yesterday that the city had completed a second round of mass testing, involving 21.1 million samples, and just dozens of positive cases had been picked up each day.
Fears of Shanghai-style lockdowns sparked panic buying last week but authorities have sought to reassure residents that there are enough supplies to meet needs.
Officials said they had mobilised resources to ensure sufficient food supply in the city.
Beijing authorities have urged people not to leave the city during the Labour Day holiday period, which starts today and continues until May 4. All Beijing residents must present a negative test result from the previous 48 hours if they want to go to public venues such as tourist attractions, hotels and hostels during the holiday, municipal government spokesman Xu Hejian said.
Anyone travelling to Beijing will be tested on arrival, and again 24 hours and 72 hours later. They will not be allowed to attend any gathering or go to crowded places for seven days.
Xu also said that negative test results from the previous 48 hours were required for all residents if they wanted to go to work or school after the holiday.
Security and pandemic control will be high on the agenda at the Communist Party’s national congress in Beijing this autumn, when the party’s general secretary, President Xi Jinping, is expected to secure a third term.
Earlier this month, Health Minister Ma Xiaowei ruled out any relaxation of the strict pandemic control measures ahead of the congress, the most important political event of the year.
In an article for Study Times, official newspaper of the Central Party School where the central government trains its top cadres, Ma urged the country to stick to its dynamic zero-Covid policy and take a stand against “erroneous” thoughts of “coexisting with the virus”. The bottom line was to prevent a large-scale rebound in cases and consolidate the hardwon results of pandemic control to welcome the opening of the five-yearly congress, he said.