On Tuesday, Beijing lives on the impact of fears of declaring a complete closure similar to Shanghai, with the expansion of diagnostic tests to include the majority of its 22 million residents, an increase in the number of injuries, the closure of sports halls and tourist sites, and the cancellation of shows and wedding parties.
Since March, China has been facing an epidemic outbreak that affects, to varying degrees, different regions. China adopts a “zero Covid” strategy and accompanies it with extensive quarantine and examinations.
Shanghai has become the main focus of the epidemic, and on Tuesday it announced 52 new deaths and nearly 17,000 infections within 24 hours.
The city’s 25 million residents have been under strict quarantine since early April. Some of them face difficulties in obtaining food, while the injured are sent to quarantine centers where health conditions vary.
But the situation is much less serious in Beijing, but the Chinese capital has recorded more than a hundred injuries since last week, including 33 detected on Tuesday, an increase compared to previous days.
In order to identify and isolate the infected as soon as possible, the Beijing authorities will launch a diagnostic campaign, which was expanded on Tuesday to 12 out of 16 districts in the city.
And on Monday, residents and workers in Chaoyang District, which includes the largest population in the Chinese capital, and many international companies, offices, embassies and commercial centers, underwent diagnostic tests. And 11 new areas began examining their residents on Tuesday. This testing campaign covers about 20 million people in Beijing.
In parallel, the Chinese capital began to impose restrictions.
And several sports halls, where residents of the capital play basketball or badminton, announced on Tuesday that their doors will be closed until further notice, “in line with the instructions of the health authorities.”
The Tibetan Buddhist Lama Temple, which attracts many visitors, will be closed from Wednesday.
Hotels are now prohibited from hosting meetings, according to what the city’s municipality announced on Tuesday, while exhibitions, marriages, shows and sports competitions were suspended.
But life is still largely normal in Beijing. Shops, restaurants and cinemas are still open.
Although the authorities did not raise the possibility of imposing the closure, what happened in Shanghai frightens many Beijing residents who prefer to form a stockpile of food in anticipation of this possibility.
In recent days, they are heading in large numbers to stores and online platforms to buy meat, fruits, vegetables, water and other necessities.
The authorities urged companies to work remotely. A few days before the May 1 holiday, it called on residents of the capital not to leave the city unless absolutely necessary.
However, the measures taken in Beijing are moderate compared to those imposed in other regions facing a similar epidemic outbreak.
The city of Baotou in the north of the country, a large producer of rare earth metals, called on all its residents to stay in their homes after discovering two cases.