China's capital Beijing closed some public spaces and stepped up checks at others on Thursday, as most of the city's 22 million residents embarked on more COVID-19 mass testing aimed at averting a Shanghai-like lockdown.
As Beijing rolled out three rounds of mass testing this week across a number of districts, it locked down a number of residential compounds, office blocks and a university after infections were found while shutting some schools, entertainment venues and tourist sites.
Universal Studios in Beijing announced late on Wednesday it would require visitors to show negative test results before they could enter the theme park, starting on Friday.
Across Beijing, positive cases were found among the nearly 20 million samples acquired in the first round of mass testing, but numbers remained small. The city on Thursday reported 50 new infections for April 27, up from 34 a day earlier.
Since 22 April, Beijing has found over 160 cases, more than half in Chaoyang, the city's most populous district known for its night life, malls and embassies.
Despite the low caseload, Beijing remained on edge.
When the outbreak in Shanghai began, new infections were under 100 a day between the first of March and the tenth, before doubling and then surging to more than 700 by 20 March.
People lineup for a COVID-19 test in Beijing, China, 27 April 2022. Beijing continues its mass testing in 11 districts to over 20 million residents as the city recorded 34 COVID-19 cases, its highest since the Omicron variant was recorded on 22 April. Source: AAP / MARK R. CRISTINO/EPA
So far, Beijing has tried to avoid disrupting its economy, allowing residents to go to work even as they get tested, unless infections are found and localised lockdowns are required.
"We'll have to stay at the dormitory first, then come back to work after the lockdown is lifted," said a migrant worker surnamed Wu, who arrived in Beijing on Wednesday after a 10-hour train journey with a friend.
The two were to begin work in a canteen of the Beijing University of Technology, but that did not happen after residential compounds next to the university went into a lockdown.
After a long discussion with staff at the university, they were told to go stay at a dormitory currently under lockdown.
"We can cook in the dormitory, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time until the lockdown is lifted," said Wu.
"I won't ask for money if I don't work."
