China is wedded to a zero-Covid strategy of hard lockdowns, mass testing and long quarantine periods to wipe out clusters as they emerge.
Beijing will gradually lift Covid-19 restrictions this week, city officials said Sunday.
After some easing in recent days, the Chinese capital — which reported 19 new infections Sunday — announced residents would start returning to work from Monday and schools would reopen from June 13.
China is wedded to a zero-Covid strategy of hard lockdowns, mass testing and long quarantine periods to wipe out clusters as they emerge.
That strategy has meant restrictions on movement in major cities including Shanghai and Beijing, a metropolis of 22 million people where a resurgence of Covid-19 in April led to just under 2,000 infections.
Also read: China’s big spending on ‘zero-Covid’ policy boosts medical, tech, construction
From Monday, restaurants will be able to welcome customers again — if they have tested negative in the previous three days — and public transport will operate normally, the city’s government said in a statement.
Two districts in the capital will maintain restrictions.
Also read: Is there a link between Covid and air pollution? What experts say
In Shanghai, most of the city’s 25 million inhabitants have been able to move freely since Wednesday.
But hundreds of thousands still face restrictions after being designated close contacts of infected people.
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
5 teens wounded in shooting at West Texas house party
The teens, ranging in age from 16 to 18, were wounded about 1 am Saturday at a home in Socorro, a town on the Mexican border near El Paso, said Socorro police Chief David Burton. As many as 100 people were there. Partygoers said the shooting erupted after a fight broke out between two groups, Burton said.
-
London beer prices top £8 a pint for first time, FT reports
The average price of a pint of beer in Britain has increased to £3.95 this year from £2.30 in 2008, the FT cited CGA as saying. Pubs may need to raise prices further as the cost of barley to make beer jumps with pressures stemming from the war in Ukraine, according to the newspaper.
-
-
-
Four killed, 14 injured as quakes hit southwest China
A shallow 6.1-magnitude quake hit a sparsely populated area in Sichuan province about 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of provincial capital Chengdu, broadcaster CCTV said. It was followed three minutes later by a second quake of magnitude 4.5 in a nearby county where the deaths and injuries occurred, according to CCTV. Footage obtained by the broadcaster showed dozens of schoolchildren screaming and ducking under desks as their building started to shake, before dashing out of the classroom with arms over their heads.