The coronavirus pandemic is creeping closer to the halls of power in Beijing as authorities rush to avoid an uncontrolled Shanghai-style Omicron outbreak in China’s capital.
Beijing is tightening coronavirus restrictions after reporting 41 cases on Sunday. Officials in the city of 22mn, which is also home to the ruling Chinese Communist party’s senior leaders, closed gyms and cinemas and raised Covid19 testing requirements in an effort to avoid the situation in Shanghai, where tens of millions have been restricted to their apartments.
The new wave of social and health controls in Beijing marked the latest sign that China’s leadership remained committed to the heavy-handed implementation of President Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy. That is despite indications that the policy is wreaking widespread economic damage within and beyond China’s borders and drumming up domestic opposition to the government’s handling of the pandemic.
Authorities in Beijing ordered three rounds of citywide PCR tests last week after a cluster of cases was found in the business district of Chaoyang. The capital’s daily case count has remained in double digits for the past seven days.
Residents returning to schools and offices on Thursday after this week’s three day public holiday will have to present a negative Covid test taken within 48 hours. Indoor dining was banned during the holiday in another bid to slow the outbreak.
The ratcheting up of controls in Beijing followed small-scale protests that have flared in Shanghai amid food shortages, as well as online complaints over Xi’s policy.
After weeks of lockdown in some regions hit badly during the initial Omicron wave, including Shanghai, Jilin and Zhejiang, official case numbers are falling.
But even as life in the cities showed fledgling signs of revival, vital logistics routes that connect buyers and suppliers remained choked. Chinese authorities