https://www.financialexpress.com/world-news/beijings-biggest-district-urges-residents-to-stay-home-as-covid-cases-rise/2865895/
Beijing’s biggest district urges residents to stay home as COVID cases rise
On Sunday, Beijing city officials urged residents of the sprawling
Chaoyang district – home to nearly 3.5 million people as well as
embassies and office towers – to remain at home on Monday.
Written by Reuters
November 20, 2022 5:17:57 pm
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Beijing’s biggest district urges residents to stay home as COVID cases rise
"The pressure on Beijing has further increased," he said.
Beijing’s most populous district urged residents to stay at home on
Monday, extending a request from the weekend as the city’s COVID-19 case
numbers rose, with many businesses shut and schools in the area shifting
classes online.
Nationally, new case numbers held steady on Sunday near April peaks as
China battles outbreaks in cities across the country, from Zhengzhou in
central Henan province to Guangzhou in the south and Chongqing in the
southwest.
Still, China is trying to ease the impact of containment measures that
drag on the economy and frustrate residents fed up with lockdowns,
quarantine and other disruptions, even as it reiterates its commitment
to its zero-COVID approach.
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On Sunday, Beijing city officials urged residents of the sprawling
Chaoyang district – home to nearly 3.5 million people as well as
embassies and office towers – to remain at home on Monday.
“The number of cases discovered outside quarantine is increasing rapidly
at present, and there are hidden transmission risks from multiple
places,” Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease
Prevention and Control, told a media briefing.
Also Read: Beijing district urges staying home for weekend as COVID
cases rise
“The pressure on Beijing has further increased,” he said.
The Chinese capital reported 621 new infections for Saturday, up from
515 a day earlier. As of 3 p.m. on Sunday, it added a further 516 new
infections.
Authorities also said an 87-year-old Beijing man became the nation’s
first official COVID-19 fatality since May 26, raising China’s
coronavirus death toll to 5,227.
Many Beijing residents stocked up on food during the weekend, with some
delivery services experiencing delays.
Parents at international schools in Chaoyang district were told that
classes would be online for the coming week. “As COVID-19 has spread in
multiple places and with complex transmission chains, schools in
Chaoyang district will be moving to online learning,” one such notice said.
Hairdressers in neighbouring Dongcheng district were also told to shut.
‘SEVERE’ SITUATION
On Sunday, China reported 24,435 new COVID-19 infections for Nov. 19,
down slightly from 24,473 a day earlier but near highs clocked in April
when Shanghai, China’s largest city, was in the midst of an outbreak and
grinding two-month lockdown.
While official infection tallies are low by global standards, China
tries to stamp out every infection chain, making it an outlier nearly
three years into the pandemic.
Guangzhou, a hard-hit southern city of nearly 19 million people,
reported 8,434 new locally transmitted infections, down from 8,713 a day
earlier.
Officials said that the Panyu district will resume in-person school for
primary and middle school students on Monday, while online teaching
continues in seven of the city’s 11 districts.
Under a series of measures unveiled this month, Chinese health
authorities have sought more targeted COVID-19 curbs, sparking investor
hopes of a more significant easing even as China faces its first winter
battling the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Many analysts expect such a shift to begin only in March or April,
however, with the government arguing that President Xi Jinping’s
signature zero-COVID policy saves lives.
Experts warn that full reopening requires a massive vaccination booster
effort and a change in messaging in a country where the disease remains
widely feared.
The People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper,
warned on Sunday that the pandemic may expand due to mutations and
seasonal factors.
“The situation of pandemic control is severe. We must maintain
confidence that we will win, resolutely overcome issues such as
insufficient understanding and insufficient preparation,” it said in an
editorial.
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