A health worker receives a swab sample from a woman to be tested for Covid-19 coronavirus at a swab collection site in Beijing on June 12. NOEL CELIS / AFP / Getty Images
Beijing’s most populous district, Chaoyang, has announced three rounds of mass tests to quell a “ferocious” COVID-19 outbreak that erupted at a bar in a nightlife and shopping area last week shortly after the city eased restrictions on time of the epidemic in April.
City health officials said there have been 166 confirmed cases so far related to the outbreak, which began at the Heaven Supermarket bar in the Sanlitun area on Thursday, 145 of which were bar visitors.
Mass tests will be held between Monday and Wednesday in the Chaoyang district, where the bar is located, officials told a news briefing.
The total number of pandemic deaths and deaths remains extremely low in China compared to many countries around the world.
But while much of the world has eased the restrictions, Chinese authorities have maintained a zero-COVID policy, trying to eliminate outbreaks at an early stage with measures, including heavy traffic restrictions and mass tests.
Sue Hejian, a spokeswoman for the Beijing city government, told a briefing Sunday that the current epidemic in the capital was “ferocious”.
“At present, there is still a risk of further spread. The most urgent task at the moment is to trace the source of the cluster, as well as to manage and control the risks, “he said, adding that Beijing must prevent the emergence of” epidemic amplifiers “.
Two buildings housing hundreds of residents of a Chaoyang complex were severely blocked on Sunday after a positive incident, a housing committee official told Reuters.
Large metal barricades were installed around the complex. Disinfectants wearing protective suits entered the building, and additional security guards and police were brought to the exits.
Several nearby businesses, including Paradise Massage & Spa, were also temporarily blocked with police tape and security guards brought in to block the exits.
A handful of customers and staff at the salon will be closed for at least two days while inspections are carried out, a government official told Reuters.
Some Beijing residents said they received numerous messages on Sunday telling them to report to their neighborhood organizations if they had visited Sanlitun’s bars recently.
It’s only been a week since state media reported that Beijing will further ease COVID’s restrictions by allowing indoor dining.
In Shanghai, subject to a two-month blockade until early June, authorities announced a round of tests on Saturday for most of its 25 million people.
Officials in Shanghai told reporters they found one symptomatic and four asymptomatic cases as of Sunday afternoon, after discovering 10 new local symptomatic cases and 19 local asymptomatic cases a day earlier.
Dining services will be allowed to resume in a number of restaurants and eateries in three suburban neighborhoods, Shanghai officials said.
China reported 275 new cases of the coronavirus on June 11, of which 134 were symptomatic and 141 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said Sunday.
There were no new deaths, leaving the total number in the pandemic at 5,226. As of Saturday, mainland China had confirmed 224,781 symptoms with symptoms.
China’s Shanghai Mall will close millions of people for mass testing of COVID-19 this weekend, just 10 days after lifting its grueling two-month blockade. This worries residents and raises concerns about the impact on business.
Reuters
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