Beijing shuts 60 subway stations to curb the spread of COVID-19

China’s capital on Wednesday closed 60 subway stations, more than 10% of its vast system, as an additional measure against the spread of the coronavirus.

Forty stations were shut down in the morning. Twenty more were added later in the afternoon. In a short message, the Beijing subway authority. saidThe majority of downtown stations were shut down as part epidemic control measures. The date of resumption was not given.

Beijing has been on high alert due to the spread of COVID-19. Restaurants and bars have been restricted to takeout and gyms closed. Classes have been suspended indefinitely. Major tourist attractions in Beijing, such as the Forbidden city and the Beijing Zoo have shut down their indoor exhibition halls, and are now only partially operational.

A few cases were found in isolated areas. People residing in “controlled” areas have been told to stay within city limits, including 12 areas deemed high-risk and another 35 considered medium-risk.

Residents of the city will need to take three virus tests during the week. Authorities want to find and isolate cases and not impose the same sweeping lockdowns as in Shanghai. To enter most public areas, you must have a negative result from a virus test within 48 hours.

On Wednesday, Beijing recorded 51 new cases. Five of these were asymptomatic.

With China celebrating Labor Day this week, and many commuters in the capital with 21 million working from home, the subway closings will have little effect on city life.

One downtown neighborhood, which was deemed high-risk Wednesday, saw the streets practically deserted except for a few delivery drivers on scooters.

All other businesses were closed except for fruit and vegetable stores and supermarkets. To avoid possible problems with future access, outsiders tend to avoid high-risk locations.

While taking a lighter touch in Beijing, China has stuck overall to its strict “zero-COVID” approach that restricts travel, tests entire cities and sets up sprawling facilities to try to isolate every infected person. If the virus spreads, lockdowns will be extended to include entire cities.

That has caused the most disruption in Shanghai, where authorities are slowly easing restrictions that have confined most of the city’s 26 million people to their apartments, housing compounds or immediate neighborhoods for close to a month, and in some cases longer.

Another 4,982 cases were reported in Shanghai on Wednesday. All but 260 were asymptomatic. There was also an additional 16 deaths. That continues a steady decline in China’s largest city, which recorded a daily peak of 27,605 new cases on April 13.

The surprisingly low death toll amid an outbreak of more than 400,000 cases in the city that is home to China’s main stock market and biggest port has sparked questions about how such deaths are tallied.

These rigid, widely criticized restrictions have caused shortages in food and medical assistance as well as a larger, though probably temporary, impact on the country’s economy. In a desperate display of anger and frustration, angry citizens have confronted officials at barricades and online.

Communist authorities who tolerate no dissent have sought to scrub criticism from the internet and blamed the protests, including the banging of cooking implements, on agitation by unidentified “foreign anti-China forces.”

Shanghai began this week requiring all hospitals to fully resume their services in order to reopen.

According to a Shanghai Media Group report, patients filled the Huashan Hospital’s waiting area with long lines outside of some departments. While patient numbers have dropped by around two-thirds compared to the previous wave, their medical conditions are more severe.

Huashan’s deputy director of dermatology, Wu Wenyu, told the Shanghai Media Group he was seeing patients who had delayed treatment because of the outbreak, some from cities outside Shanghai.

“For example, a patient suffering from (skin disease) shingles will hurt very much. He or she might have felt very bad at home, but he or she couldn’t go to the hospital due to COVID,” Wu said. “But now many patients are coming to see the doctor.”

Hospital administrators saidThe hospital had to make several appointments in order to avoid crowding.

Some residential communities allowed one family member to shop twice a week, sometimes picking up items for neighboring families.

Ling Jiazhao was the manager of a supermarket located in eastern Pudong. He told Shanghai Media Group that 50 customers were being limited to the store every half an hour.

“I’m hoping it won’t cause congestion. Each community has two to four hours to go out for shopping, so most members will complete that within one hour,” Ling said.