BEIJING / SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s capital, Beijing, tightened restrictions on COVID on Sunday as it faced an outbreak as Shanghai let some of its 25 million people go outside for light and air after reporting a second day of zero out-of-quarantine areas. The Shanghai outbreak, which began in March, was the worst in China since the first months of the pandemic in 2020. Hundreds of thousands have been infected and the city has banned residents from leaving their homes, causing widespread public outrage. The outbreak in China’s most populous city and the risk of spreading to Beijing are testing the government’s approach to zero COVID-19 in a year when Xi Jinping is expected to secure an unprecedented third term as president. Beijing, with dozens of daily infections in an outbreak now in its 10th day, has not been locked out. More than 300 locally transmitted cases have been reported since April 22. However, on Sunday, the capital increased social distance rules and launched a new round of mass trials in its most populous and worst-hit area. Last week, the city of 22 million carried out mass tests in most of its 16 neighborhoods, suspended all entertainment venues and banned food from restaurants. “The impact of all this on us is huge – 20,000 yuan ($ 3,000) in one day, that’s right!” said Jia, manager of a commonly popular burger restaurant in eastern Beijing. “Our boss is worried about that too,” Jia said, asking to be identified only by his last name. “We have three branches in Shanghai. Everything is closed and they lose cash for a month. And now that.” Beijing’s huge Universal Studios theme park closed on Sunday, and in the bustling Badaling section of the Great Wall, visitors were asked to show proof of negative COVID test results before entering. The Chaoyang area, which accounts for the largest share of infections in the Beijing epidemic, has launched an additional round of mass trials, with public health workers knocking on doors to remind residents to get tested. The story goes on ANGER IN SHANGHAI The lockdown across Shanghai city since early April has disrupted the daily lives of its residents, sparking food concerns and concerns that they will be taken to busy quarantine centers if they catch the virus. Extreme measures taken to seal residential complexes, including the fencing of building entrances, have sparked outrage. Some residents have turned to social media to vent their frustration, some have potted pots and pans outside their windows and others have clashed with public health workers. The song “Can you hear the world singing?” from the musical Les Miserables has become a popular protest anthem. On Saturday, an online video of a Chinese orchestra playing the song, with musicians performing from their respective homes, went viral with nearly 19,000 notifications before being blocked. While much of the city remains in a lockdown, Shanghai officials confidently said on Sunday that restrictions in some areas would be eased as the city reduced the risk of COVID transmission at the community level, with the exception of cases in quarantine centers. Six of its 16 districts achieved zero COVID-19 status, three consecutive days without new daily increases in infections, senior city government official Gu Honghui told a virtual news conference. Public transport will be allowed to resume in five districts, but residents must remain in their districts as they visit supermarkets, pharmacies and hospitals, a health official told a news conference. Posts on social media showed the streets of Fengxian, one of the six neighborhoods, full of pedestrians and drowned on scooters and bicycles. Reuters could not independently verify the videos. However, despite the drop in transmissions, Shanghai will launch a new round of city-wide PCR and antigen testing from Sunday to May 7. Excluding imported cases outside the mainland, China reported 8,256 new local cases on Saturday, up from 10,703 the previous day. Beijing accounted for 59 of the infections, while Shanghai reported 7,872 new cases and all 38 deaths. ($ 1 = 6.6080 Chinese Yuan Renminbi) (Report by Ryan Woo, Jing Xu, Brenda Goh, Martin Quin Pollard and Zhang Yan; Edited by William Mallard)
