Beijing tightens COVID restrictions as Labour Day holiday begins
TIGHTER coronavirus restrictions came into force in Beijing on Sunday as a five-day national holiday began.
Authorities on Saturday evening announced the measures, which include a ban on eating in restaurants, with only takeaway allowed from May 1 to at least May 4.
Residents will also need proof of a recent negative Covid-19 test to visit public spaces and most shops.
Health authorities on Sunday said they had registered 59 new infections in Beijing. In total, over 300 people were infected with the virus during the latest wave of infections in the capital.
Despite the low number of cases in Beijing, fears were rife that the Chinese capital could also go into a partial or full lockdown, similar to one Shanghai is currently experiencing.
Several neighbourhoods have been sealed off since late April. Their residents cannot leave the area.
According to media reports, authorities recently completed setting up a new field hospital for asymptomatic Covid-19 cases or people experiencing mild symptoms with around 4,000 beds.
Experts pointed out that, unlike Shanghai, Beijing has intervened early and tested, which should help get the outbreak under control.
Shanghai is at the centre of
the biggest coronavirus wave in China since the outbreak of the pandemic more than two years ago.
With mass testing, quarantine and curfews, the government of the world’s most populous country is pursuing a strict zero-Covid strategy, which is being severely tested
by the particularly contagious Omicron variant. However, Beijing says it won’t consider relaxing its policies.
Beijing, which has tallied 350 cases in the past nine days, is restricting activity to try to prevent a large outbreak and avoid a citywide lockdown similar to Shanghai.
Individual buildings and housing complexes with coronavirus cases have been sealed off. Gyms and theaters have been closed for the holiday period. Visitors to many office buildings and tourist sites such as the Great Wall must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test within the previous 4 hours.
Epidemic prevention and control are at the most critical juncture in Beijing, said
Pang inghuo, deputy head of the city’s disease prevention center. While most of the new cases are among people under quarantine, some have been found in the broader community, Peng said. Beijing is conducting repeated rounds of mass testing to find and isolate any infected people.
Online booking agency Ctrip said last week that people were booking travel to cities that were mostly free of the virus, such as Chengdu in Sichuan province and nearby Chongqing.
Other popular destinations included Wuhan, where the world’s first major outbreak of COVID-19 occurred in early 2020. About half the orders on the Ctrip platform were for travel within a province.