After Shanghai, the country’s most populous city, has been under lockdown since early April, Beijing has been under travel restrictions for a week and many public places (restaurants, cafes, gymnasiums, gyms, etc.) are closed.
On Monday, authorities severely restricted access to non-essential services in the capital’s busiest and most populous district, Chaoyang, where some businesses are forced to limit their normal workforce to 5%. In general, the city is deserted due to the application of the new containment measures.
As a result, the busy business district of Sanlitun in east Beijing is deserted on Monday morning. The Apple store, which is usually very crowded, was ordered to close its doors a few minutes after opening, according to the Belga agency.
Beijing on Monday announced 49 new cases of contamination in the past 24 hours.
Contamination numbers remaining minimal on a global scale, but authorities are strictly applying their zero-Covid policy and locking down entire cities as soon as some cases emerge.
Elsewhere in Shanghai, the number of new infections fell to fewer than 4,000 on Monday after topping 25,000 in late April.
The current outbreak has also killed more than 500 people in Shanghai, according to an official report. The total for China has officially barely surpassed 5,000 since the pandemic began.