As mass testing expanded to 11 of Beijing’s 16 districts, people lined up for throat swabs.
Beijing health officials announced that 22 more cases had been identified in the past 24 hours. This brings the total number of cases to 92 since the outbreak began five days ago. This is a small number compared to Shanghai where there have been more than 500,000 cases and at least 190 deaths. The still-infected outbreak in Beijing has not yet resulted in any deaths.
Initial announcements of testing in one Beijing area had caused panic in the city of 21,000,000 on Monday. However, the situation seemed to have stabilized on Tuesday as more testing was conducted. The public transport system appeared to be operating normally, and the roads were crowded with commuters.
Zhang Yifan said that he was not concerned about Beijing suffering from a shortage of supplies and didn’t intend to stock up. He was on his way to Dongcheng to have his blood tested. Stockpiling up blindly can lead to a loss of resources. It will lead to a shortage if people have too many supplies at home.
Beijing has taken down several apartment buildings and residential areas and added an urban area of approximately 2 by 3 km (1 by 2 mi) to the city on Monday. Blue metal fencing was put up along a portion of the area Tuesday and police made it impossible for anyone to leave. Residents are being held inside their homes.
Fears of total lockdown were fueled by disruptions in food and medicine supplies in Shanghai, a southeast-coast business hub. Shanghai’s 25 million residents have been gradually allowed to leave their homes , after three weeks of confinement.
Chen Shengzhen, an 86-year old Beijing resident, said that the capital was given more time than its southern counterpart.
Chen said that Shanghai’s lockdown happened suddenly, and so policies and other aspects could not be put in place. This led to temporary hardships in the city.
My daughter works in a government department, where they have prepared well, including beds, quilts and articles for women’s uses. Chen said that even if we have to lock down, we’ll be fine.
Shanghai residents were restricted to their buildings or complexes and faced increased prices as well as difficulty ordering food delivery. China’s biggest city was locked down, and goods backed up at Shanghai’s Port, which has affected factory production, global supply chains, and China’s economic growth.
Zhong Xiaobing is the general manager at the Lianhua Supermarket in Shanghai. He said that shipments from China have become more seamless since the government organized trucks to transport goods from key transfer points 10 days ago. However, imports are still slower due to port and other restrictions.
China’s omicron variant is difficult to control and other cities have been placed under lockdown. The latest example being Baotou, Inner Mongolia.
On Monday, Beijing conducted mass testing on nearly 3.8 million people. A Chaoyang official stated that all the results were negative, except one in a group consisting of five people who were tested together. These five people were being tested in order to find out if they are infected.
Chaoyang was the area with the highest number of cases from the Beijing epidemic. However, authorities extended testing to another 10 districts on Tuesday.
