(Beijing) The Chinese capital Beijing is on alert Monday in the face of an upsurge in positive cases of the coronavirus, with a general screening campaign and residents who are stockpiling food in the event of confinement.
Posted at 6:51 a.m.
The city seems to fear a Shanghai-like scenario, where almost all of the 25 million inhabitants have been confined since the beginning of April, often with difficulty accessing food.
Fifty-one deaths have been announced there by the Ministry of Health for the past 24 hours, a record number of daily cases.
China has been facing an epidemic outbreak since March that affects almost the entire country to varying degrees. She is trying to overcome it with her zero COVID-19 strategy.
This consists in particular of localized confinements as soon as a few cases appear and of massive tests to quickly identify infected people and isolate them.
In Beijing on Monday morning, long lines, sometimes hundreds of residents, snaked between sidewalks and malls before arriving at makeshift screening booths, led by officers in full protective suits.
They were settled in particular in the district of Chaoyang, the most affected by the recent epidemic wave and populated by around 3.5 million inhabitants.
“If they find the slightest positive case, the whole area could be affected” and put in confinement, told AFP Yao Leiming, a 25-year-old office worker who is about to take a test.
The Health Ministry reported 19 new positive coronavirus cases in Beijing on Monday, bringing the total to several dozen since last week.
Municipal authorities warned again on Sunday that the situation was “serious and difficult” and that urgent measures were needed to quickly stem the spread of the virus.
Made cautious by the example of Shanghai, the Pekingese, fearing confinement, are going en masse to supermarkets or online sales platforms to reinforce their stocks of food products.
The city does not currently suffer from a shortage of fresh produce or basic necessities.
Sports halls have started to cancel classes or even close. But life is largely normal in Beijing with shops and restaurants remaining open.