Local authorities in China’s capital Beijing have stepped up checks on their residents and locked down some apartment complexes after the country’s number of COVID-19 cases quadrupled in recent weeks, Reuters reported.
It comes amid a Chinese Communist Party congress that began last Sunday, with Xi Jinping expected to extend his rule.
The city of 21 million reported 18 new cases of local transmission of the virus the previous day, bringing the total to 197 in the 10 days. This is four times more than the number of infections registered in the previous 10 days.
Although the infection rate in the PRC is lower than in other countries, the restrictions in Beijing are being tightened due to China’s zero-tolerance policy for covid. Health authorities in Beijing have called for stricter screening of people suspected of being carriers of the disease, as well as thorough screening of visitors to supermarkets and gyms, places where people are believed to be likely to congregate.
Some housing estates were placed in a three-day quarantine due to suspicion of Covid-19, with the condition of extension in the event of the appearance of new cases of coronavirus.
In recent days, China has vowed to maintain a zero-tolerance policy on Covid, despite growing public disillusionment. The damage to the country’s economic situation is there, and the assumption that the measures will soon be eased has turned out to be wrong.
Like other Chinese cities, Shanghai is struggling with outbreaks of covid. This week, local authorities announced plans to build a 3,250-bed quarantine center on a small island near the city center.
Between April and May, the city of 25 million people underwent a long quarantine after hundreds of thousands of cases of the coronavirus were registered in the economic center. Similar quarantine centers exist in other major cities, including Beijing and Guangzhou, where routine testing for Covid takes place.