China’s Beijing records spike in Covid cases, daily life disrupted as streets left empty

Malls are empty, streets are deserted, and people are avoiding one another in Beijing, but this is not because the city is under siege. This time, it's because Beijing has been hit by a large, spreading outbreak — the city's first since the start of the pandemic — only a week after officials modified the nation's tight Covid policy.

On Tuesday, the Sanlitun high-end shopping district felt the brunt of the city's epidemic. There, businesses that are usually bustling were abandoned or open but provided just takeout.

Companies, homes, and workplaces have reported situations similar to these throughout Beijing due to the wide spread of the virus while others stay inside to avoid acquiring the illness.

In Beijing, a neighbourhood committee office has a staff of 24 to handle administrative and event planning for the city's residents. A neighbourhood organizer told CNN that 21 of the company's 24 workers recently became ill.



Since Wuhan's early days of the pandemic, Chinese cities have not faced an epidemic without tight control mechanisms, and today Beijing is at the vanguard of this new reality. Even before the new regulations were enacted, a tiny epidemic had begun in Beijing.

However, the full extent of the virus's spread is unclear in a region where every case was closely tracked until earlier this month. With the new Covid standards considerably reducing the testing requirements that used to dominate daily life in China, residents have begun doing antigen tests at home when available, casting doubt on official statistics.

FAQs:

1. Where is Beijing located?
   Beijing is located in China.
2. How many cases were found in China on December 13th?
   7,134 cases.