China has been facing an epidemic outbreak since March which affects, to varying degrees, almost the entire country.
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Street screenings to identify positive cases, rush to supermarkets to build up stocks: Beijing lives, Monday, April 25, under the threat of confinement after a rare epidemic outbreak in the Chinese capital.
Beijingers fear a scenario à la Shanghai, where almost all of the 25 million inhabitants have been confined since the beginning of April, often with difficulties in accessing food and non-Covid medical care. A total of 51 new deaths were still announced there on Monday by the Ministry of Health – a record in the Chinese economic capital.
China has been facing an epidemic outbreak since March which affects, to varying degrees, almost the entire country. She tries to overcome it with her zero Covid strategy. This consists in particular of massive confinements and screenings to quickly identify infected people and isolate them.
The Health Ministry reported 19 new positive cases in Beijing on Monday, bringing the total to several dozen since last week. Municipal authorities have warned that the situation is “serious and difficult”.
Nearly thirty residential complexes in Beijing, i.e. a tiny part of the population, are currently undergoing a form of confinement.
A few days before the May 1 holiday, the town hall also ordered travel agencies to suspend group excursions in the capital, whose suburbs are popular for its mountains and lakes.
Life remains largely normal in Beijing, however. Shops, restaurants and cinemas are still open. But the markets are worried: the Chinese stock markets in Shanghai (-5.13%), Shenzhen (-6.48%) and Hong Kong (-3.85%) plunged on Monday.