Beijing on Wednesday closed dozens of subway stations to fight COVID-19, restricting residents’ movement even though the Chinese capital of 21 million people has only a few dozen daily cases.
Largely spared for two years, China has faced its worst epidemic outbreak since the spring of 2020 in recent weeks, which has undermined its zero COVID strategy.
Residents of Beijing, where 51 new cases were reported on Wednesday, fear their city will be locked down, like Shanghai, China’s largest city with 25 million people, where most cases are recorded.
The Beijing Metro announced the closure of about 60 stations on Wednesday, or about 18% of the network, many of which are near confined areas, according to its WeChat page.
“Entrances and exits to stations will be closed… but (line) changes can be made inside stations,” the notice said.
The metropolis of Shanghai, the country’s economic capital, where residents have been confined for more than a month, recorded nearly 5,000 new cases on Wednesday, a figure down as the city eased certain measures. Anyone who tests positive is sent there to a quarantine center, with variable comfort and often deplorable hygienic conditions.
Padlocked buildings
In Beijing, residential complexes where contamination has been identified are padlocked to prevent residents from leaving.
Municipal government spokesman Xu Hejian told reporters on Wednesday that the capital would “temporarily extend” restrictions, including banning restaurants and closing entertainment venues and sports clubs.
Officials initially said the restrictions would end with the end of the Labor Day holiday on Thursday.
During these holidays, during which the Chinese usually travel massively, the tourist sites were almost deserted.
To curb contagion, restaurants are prohibited from welcoming customers and can only sell take-out. Residents have started stocking up on food and basic necessities for fear of lockdown.
“No schedule”
But authorities also appeared to be relaxing some rules, with Mr Xu saying people arriving from overseas in Beijing would be required to observe a 10-day supervised quarantine and a week of home isolation, down from 21 days of quarantine previously. .
“I think the city is already half-locked down,” said a Beijing resident, whose residential complex is cordoned off by authorities, on condition of anonymity.
“There is no timetable for a lifting of this measure and more and more places are sealed off,” he told AFP.
Another resident, 35, said he shopped online to avoid contact with people in supermarkets.
“No one can really say how long the restrictions will last…but I understand the reasoning,” he said.
On Tuesday, all the inhabitants of the district of Chaoyang, the most populous of the capital, began a new series of screening tests which must end on Thursday.
Elsewhere in China, the city of Zhengzhou in the center of the country has also stepped up anti-COVID checks as residents of the city center have been ordered to stay in their housing compounds.