What’s new: Beijing will launch virus vetting tests covering most of its 22 million population after a rising number of Covid-19 infections was reported amid a new flare-up wave.
The city government announced expanded virus testing programs Monday night to cover 11 out of Beijing’s 16 districts. Three testing will be conducted between Tuesday and Saturday, municipal government spokesman Xu Hejian said late Monday at a briefing.
Northeast Beijing’s Chaoyang district, home of the central business district, was the first to start mass testing Monday morning after clusters of infections were reported.
The government also urged companies to encourage employees to work from home and suspend meetings, live performances and other large gatherings in the downtown area while some construction work and home furnishing will be put on hold until the mass testing ends.
The background: Beijing was on high alert after dozens of cases were reported in recent days, sparking fears of lockdown measures like those that have wrought havoc on Shanghai.
Since April 22, the capital reported 70 infections, mostly in the Chaoyang district.
More than 3.7 million residents in Chaoyang took virus tests Monday. No positive results were reported as of Monday evening among the first batch of 526,500 samples, a district official said.
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bob.simison@caixin.com)
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