People line up at a swab drive to check for Covid-19 in Beijing on June 13. [Source: RNZ]
Authorities in Beijing, the Chinese capital, were quick to involve a COVID-19 outbreak blamed on a 24-hour bar known for its reasonable liquors and giant crowds, with millions facing mandatory lockdowns and thousands under specific lockdowns.
The outbreak of 228 instances connected to Heaven Supermarket Bar, which had just reopened when restrictions were relaxed in Beijing last week, shows how complicated its “zero covid” policy will be for China, as much of the rest of the world decides to be. informed to live with the virus.
The resurgence of infections is also raising new considerations about the prospects for the world’s second-largest economy.
China has just emerged from a long blockade in Shanghai, its most populous city and advertising hub, which has also disrupted global supply chains.
“Epidemic prevention is at a critical moment,” Beijing fitness official Liu Xiaofeng said at a news conference on Monday, adding that the bar-like outbreak in the city’s largest district, Chaoyang, “is still in development. “
To show how seriously the government is taking the situation, Deputy Premier Sun Chunlan visited the bar and said it wanted to prevent and control COVID-19 in key locations, state media reported on Monday.
Those who inflamed the outbreak live or paint in 14 of the capital’s 16 districts, the government said.
Drinking and eating at Beijing’s top institutions resumed on June 6 after more than a month in which the city of 22 million more people imposed restrictions, and encouraged others to work from home and buy food in shopping malls and parts of the transportation system.
Chaoyang on Monday unveiled a massive three-day crusade among its estimated 3. 5 million residents. Around 10,000 close contacts of the bar’s consumers are known and its residential buildings were closed.
Some planned reopenings in the district have been postponed.
Queues meandered around checkpoints on Monday by more than a hundred meters, according to Reuters witnesses. Large steel barriers were installed around several residential complexes, with other people on a mixture of dangerous fabrics spraying disinfectant.
Other nearby businesses under closure come with the paradise massage parlor