Photo: Reuters
On Thursday, the Chinese capital of Beijing shut down a few public places and intensified checks on other spaces as they targeted COVID-19 mass testing to prevent something similar from happening in Shanghai.
This week, the capital released three rounds of mass testing in several areas. Furthermore, residential compounds, office blocks, and a university were locked down by the city following confirmed cases emerging, as well as schools, entertainment hubs, and tourist spots.
The Beijing Universal Studios announced on Wednesday that they would require guests to bring negative test results to enter the theme park starting Friday.
A few positive results were confirmed throughout Beijing among its almost 20 million samples obtained in the first round of mass testing. But numbers still lay on the flat levels. As per city reports on Thursday, 50 new cases were confirmed as of April 27, higher than the previous 34 per day.
160 cases of infection have been confirmed in the capital city since April 22, with more than half occurring within Chaoyang – a district that’s home to entertainment hubs and embassies.
Officials refuse to stay complacent even with a low caseload.
“I’m a little bit annoyed because I spent all that money and time stockpiling food for being locked down at home,” said Andrew Ward, a Canadian living in Beijing who was sent to quarantine in a hotel even with negative test results.
On Thursday, in response to one confirmed infection, Dongcheng began shutting down some courtyard houses known as hutongs.
The government has announced that all cinemas in Dongcheng and Xicheng, two districts in the center of downtown Beijing, will be closed.
Meanwhile, in the north, Yanqing, a tiny district inhabited by 350,000 residents, announced a beginning of screening those who live and work in the area, despite it not being included in the roster of districts mandated to carry out mass testing this week.
The city of Pinggu announced that they would be conducting tests for their 457,000 residents on Thursday and Saturday.
