COVID-19 Situation In Beijing Is Getting More And More Uncertain After A New Cluster Appears

Illustration of COVID-19. (Photo: Doc/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Beijing Municipal Government has extended a partial lockdown until May 28. This policy was taken after the COVID-19 situation in Beijing became increasingly uncertain.

Beijing Municipal Government Spokesperson, Xu Hejian, said sporadic cases and the formation of several new clusters had left anti-pandemic efforts uncertain. This encourages the local government to be able to ensure again that zero COVID-19 dynamically can be achieved as soon as possible.

Starting this weekend, residents living in Haidian District will also be working from home. The same rules were also applied to residents from the other four districts, namely Chaoyang, Fengtai, Shunyi, and Fangshan until May 28.

Several shopping centers, indoor entertainment venues, and sports arenas are also still being suspended.

People living outside the five districts must adapt and those who enter work must also show a negative PCR test result, Xu added.

Regarding the occurrence of sporadic cases in the Chinese capital, although mass PCR tests have been carried out dozens of times since April 22, Xu said his party had managed to avoid a large-scale outbreak. However, the presence of asymptomatic cases of Omicron complicates prevention and control efforts.

Within 24 hours, from Friday, May 20, to Saturday, May 21, there were 63 new cases in Beijing, as reported by Antara.

Previously five campuses in the Fangshan District were also locked down after a positive case was found in 11 students from one of the campuses.

Beijing was hit by the latest wave of Omicron since April 22 which was then imposed on May 1 in partial lockdown. During the lockdown period, all restaurants and cafes only serve food and drink purchases to take home.

The round of mass PCR tests that was supposed to end on Thursday, May 19, has finally been replayed.