Beijing reported its highest number of COVID-19 cases in nearly three years on Tuesday. The surge has forced authorities to close schools and restaurants, and many employees have been advised to work from home, AFP and Agerpres reported.
The capital city of 22 million people, which recorded 621 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, reported 1,438 new cases on Tuesday, a record since the beginning of the pandemic.
According to health authorities, the total number of daily cases now exceeds 28,000, with Guangdong province (south) and Chongqing city (southwest) hardest hit.
China is the latest major global economy to implement a strict public health policy, the so-called “zero COVID” policy, which aims to take all necessary measures to prevent infection and death.
It consists in the introduction of isolation measures immediately after the appearance of new cases, quarantine of people with a positive test result and almost daily PCR testing for the population.
But this strategy, effective at the beginning in stopping the spread of the virus, seems outdated in the face of new variants of COVID and is seriously affecting the economy, isolating China from the rest of the world.
Measures taken to combat the pandemic in Beijing
Authorities in the capital, Beijing, appear to want to avoid strict lockdowns similar to those imposed in Shanghai in the spring for now, but they have stepped up sanitation measures in recent days.
Almost 600 areas in the capital, especially residential buildings, are considered “high risk”, forcing residents to stay at home or be transported to quarantine centers.
Schools have switched to online classes, restaurants, gyms, parks and tourist facilities are closed, and employees are advised to work from home.
On the streets, queues for COVID testing centers are getting longer, and most public places require a negative result in the last 24 hours before residents can gain access.
On Sunday, China announced the first death from COVID-19 in 6 months, although the data provided by the government in Beijing should be treated with caution.
The Chinese authorities vaccinated more than 90% of the country’s population with domestically produced anti-covid vaccines.
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