The city of 21 million has already ordered three rounds of mass testing this week, with the third coming on Friday. On Thursday, the city’s Education Office ordered all schools to stop classes from Friday and said it had not specified when they would resume. It was also unclear whether the schools would offer online courses or allow students facing critical exams to return to class. Beijing announced 50 new cases on Thursday, two of which were asymptomatic, bringing the total to the latest wave of infections at about 150. Students make up more than 30 percent of all cases, with groups associated with six schools and two kindergartens in Chaoyang. Also Thursday, residents of two homes in Beijing’s Chaoyang district were ordered to stay inside and some clinics and businesses closed.
Fast enforcement
Beijing has moved faster than many Chinese cities to impose restrictions, while case numbers remain low and the scale of the epidemic is still manageable. The goal is to avoid the kind of sweeping measures imposed in Shanghai, where the highly contagious Omicron variant has torn the city of 25 million. Restrictions restricting many Shanghai residents to their homes are now in their fourth week and all schools have been online since last month. Strict measures have sparked outrage and frustration over food shortages and basic supplies, hospitals’ inability to deal with other health emergencies and poor conditions in central quarantine areas where anyone positive is required – or even positive contact. to be sent. CLOCKS Beijing launches massive tests after 26 COVID-19 cases reported on Sunday:
Beijing launches mass tests after 26 COVID-19 cases reported on Sunday
The National Health Commission reported 11,285 new cases in mainland China on Thursday, most of them asymptomatic, and the vast majority in Shanghai reported an additional 47 deaths. Shanghai city authorities said Wednesday they will analyze the results of new rounds of testing to determine which neighborhoods can safely extend residents’ freedom of movement. Shanghai seeks to achieve “social zero COVID”, where new cases are detected only in people who are already under surveillance, such as in central quarantine, or between those who are considered close contacts. This would indicate that open chain transmission chains have been cut, reducing the risk of new clusters forming from previously undetected sources.
Efforts to boost the immunization rate among the elderly
While the overall vaccination rate in China is about 90%, only 62 percent of people over the age of 60 have been vaccinated in Shanghai, the country’s largest and richest city. Health workers are visiting elderly residents at home to get vaccines in a bid to boost that rate, the city’s health committee said on Thursday. The pandemic and severe quarantine measures have affected the economy, especially in Shanghai, home to the world’s busiest port and China’s main stock exchange, along with a large international business community. Closing the city for a full month will deduct two percent from China’s annual economic growth, according to an analysis by ING Bank earlier this month. Lockdowns could also affect spring planting, boosting food prices, while transport has also been severely affected.
Many flights were canceled
Baiyun Airport, Guangzhou’s southern production hub, canceled 80 percent of its flights on Thursday after “abnormal results” were found in an airport staff test, according to state-run online media source The Paper. Travel, especially between provinces and cities, is expected to decline during next week’s May Day holiday. China’s international borders have remained largely closed since the COVID-19 epidemic was first discovered in central Wuhan. Despite Beijing’s promises to reduce the human and economic costs of the “zero COVID” strategy, leaders from President Xi Jinping and below have ruled out the United States and other governments participating in lifting the restrictions and trying to live with the virus. All but 13 of China’s 100 most economically profitable cities were subject to some form of restriction earlier this month, according to Gavekal Dragonomics, a research firm.
