Millions of Beijing residents queue to take PCR tests in race to avoid Shanghai-style lockdown
Millions of Beijing residents queued for Covid-19 tests yesterday in what is becoming a daily routine for China’s capital as it races to contain a coronavirus outbreak and avoid a Shanghai-style lockdown.
Shanghai, which carried out 63 million PCR tests and 126 million rapid antigen tests on its 25 million residents last week, will also continue daily screening in the coming days, city officials said.
Regular testing is set to become a feature of daily life in many cities in China, as the authorities try to detect and isolate infections early enough to avoid mass closures and movement curbs.
Strict Covid-19 restrictions in Beijing, Shanghai and dozens of other major cities across China are taking a psychological toll on the country’s people, weighing on the world’s second-largest economy and disrupting global supply chains and international trade.
Beijing has closed gyms and entertainment venues, banned dine-in services at restaurants, shut scores of bus routes and almost 15 per cent of its sprawling subway system. Even the businesses that remain open are suffering.
Regular clients have stopped dropping by, not wanting to risk any activity that could classify them as close contacts of coronavirus patients and force them into quarantine.
“They’re afraid of getting abnormalities in their health apps,” said a barber who asked to be identified only by his surname, Song, referring to the mobile monitoring software all residents must use.
“North of us are malls and offices that have been sealed, and their apps might mark them as close contacts if they came.”
Mr Song said his salon would try to stay open, but he was not sure for how long.
“This outbreak has truly unsettled everyone,” he said.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, in a Saturday teleconference with other senior officials, pledged to support “as many employers as possible”, especially among small and midsize companies, to keep people in their jobs, state agency Xinhua reported.
China’s unemployment rate stood at 5.8 per cent in March, the highest since May 2020, while the rate in 31 major cities hit a record 6 per cent.
April’s full lockdown of Shanghai and stricter curbs elsewhere have further pummelled the job market.
The authorities are unwavering in their commitment to stamp out the virus, rather than live with Covid-19 like most other countries, which are easing or dropping virus measures. In Shanghai, which is facing China’s biggest ever outbreak, most people have been confined to their housing compounds for more than a month.
Many residents complain of not being able to get food or access health care and other basic services.
Beijing’s daily Covid-19 cases are in the dozens, much lower than Shanghai’s at this point in its outbreak, when infections were in the triple digits and rising.
Senior Chinese leaders meeting last week said the nation would fight any comment or action that distorted, doubted or repudiated its Covid-19 policy.
Shanghai party and city officials have also warned against complacency.