Thousands of travellers from Beijing have been ordered not to come home, as authorities tighten COVID-19 precautions ahead of the Communist Party's National Congress.
Beijing residents across the country started receiving pop-up alerts from China's COVID-19 check-in app last week after the October "Golden Week" holiday.
The "category 3" alert said anyone who had visited a medium- or high-risk area should not return to Beijing.
"You are found likely having been to places with COVID exposure risk," the alert said.
"Please delay your trip back to Beijing, until the COVID-related risks are ruled out."
According to the government, about 90 per cent of the country is considered medium- or high-risk.
The authorities reported 2,089 new local infections on October 10, the most since August 20.
The CCP's week-long National Congress is due to begin on Sunday with thousands of delegates heading to the capital, where President Xi Jinping is expected to be granted a historic third term as general secretary.
Besides the COVID alerts, Beijing authorities recently introduced a series of measures from reinforcing COVID monitoring teams at key airports and railway stations to increasing the frequency of COVID testing for office workers.
Daily shuttle buses ferrying tens of thousands of people to work in Beijing from nearby Tianjin and Hebei were also suspended.
'I'm one of the lucky ones'
Beijing resident Xiaoling Lu was on holiday in Zhejiang province's capital city Hangzhou when she received the alert last week.
After spending a day on the phone with the health authorities, she managed to get the alert removed just before she was due to board her train home.
"I'm one of the lucky ones. Some [of my colleagues] are still trapped outside the city and need to work remotely, " Ms Lu said.
"I guess it was because we've been to other places other than Beijing and the [Chinese Communist] Party's 20th congress is about to commence."
Ms Lu said she did not know why she and others received the alerts, but said she would think twice before leaving Beijing next time.
"I can't think of anyone [who travelled outside Beijing] and didn't receive the alert," she said.
The social media page of a Beijing government hotline has been swamped with complaints from people who could not come back to Beijing.
"I've lodged multiple complaints and live in a low-risk area. I'm also testing negative for COVID every day. How on earth can I get the alert removed? I'm about to lose my job if I still can't go back," Weibo user Wangzhouzi said.
One hashtag about Beijing "pop-up windows" started on October 5 and was viewed more than 12 million times by Tuesday. At least one similar hashtag was censored.
"I'm a pregnant woman that has done nothing. This pop-up window has delayed my pregnancy check in Beijing. How can people live like this?" user monianOPQ wrote on Monday.
Thousands more users on the Chinese social media platform Weibo have posted seeking help to remove the pop-up.
'Beijing has always been managed very tightly'
Some other parts of China have been locked down as a precautionary measure.
"All the roads connecting the city to other counties and regions will be closed," a notice from Yongji city government in Shanxi province said, despite no cases being reported in the area.
An online report posted on popular Chinese news site 163.com said tourists in Xinjiang, which has been locked down since August, have been asked to stay there till the end of this month and were offered jobs to work in vineyards and kitchens.
Chicago University professor Yang Dali, who writes on Chinese politics and economics, told the ABC it was not unusual for Chinese authorities to restrict the movement of dissidents during politically sensitive periods.
"Beijing has always been managed very tightly," Professor Yang said.
"[This time] there are even cities with zero cases and going into lockdown."
Professor Yang said the restrictions on movement were a sensitive topic in China at the moment.
"The issue is really to what extent is this about zero-COVID," he said.
"There are epidemic considerations but, fundamentally, a lot of the severe tightening is clearly related to the party congress.
"[They are] trying to prevent outbreaks, especially [among] delegates to the party congress, they do not want to have an outbreak in their own hands. "
ABC/Reuters
