Beijing sees record COVID cases; China outbreak spirals

BEIJING—China’s capital Beijing posted a record number of 1,438 new COVID cases on Tuesday, with the city hunkering down under a tightening chokehold of restrictions that have sent schools online, closed many restaurants and forced employees to work from home. More than 28,000 new infections were reported nationwide—nearing the record high since the pandemic began—with Guangdong province and the city of Chongqing logging over 16,000 and 6,300 cases respectively, health authorities said. New cases in Beijing more than doubled from 621 on Sunday. Three elderly Beijing residents with underlying diseases died from COVID over the weekend, authorities said, marking China’s first COVID deaths since May.