Beijing parks closed as city battles ‘severe’ Covid-19 outbreak

Cluster in northern district prompts tighter controls, with another round of compulsory testing to begin on Tuesday
Chaoyang and Shunyi parklands are off limits until further notice as residents’ complaints mount

Coronavirus pandemic

Jane Caiin Beijing

Published: 2:31pm, 9 May 2022

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The Chinese capital is battling a worsening Covid-19 outbreak, with a new cluster in the north of Beijing prompting tighter curbs including the closure of several parks.

Fifty new locally acquired infections were reported in Beijing on Monday, nine of them asymptomatic, bringing the total to 777 since the latest outbreak began on April 22.

Of the new cases, 21 are employees – and their family members – of a data centre for the Beijing Rural Commercial Bank located in Shunyi district, the city’s health authority said. The infections were detected during compulsory testing.

“The Covid situation in Beijing is complicated and severe, as suggested by the sudden outbreak in Shunyi,” Beijing municipal government spokesman Xu Hejian told reporters on Monday. “Chains of transmission have not been blocked. We must step up controls in key areas.”

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A new round of mass testing will start on Tuesday in Shunyi and Chaoyang – the two districts at the centre of the outbreak – and 15 other districts where cases have been found in the past seven days.

Residents in most parts of the city have already undergone three rounds of testing in the past few weeks, and other control measures are in place.

Kindergartens, primary and middle schools were suspended on Thursday and classes will continue to be held online until further notice, the government said on Monday. A ban on dining in restaurants will also continue, and gyms and indoor entertainment venues will remain closed.

Starting from Thursday, people must show their “health code” mobile app and a negative PCR test result from within the previous 48 hours to enter public venues such as government buildings, supermarkets, shopping malls, hotels and restaurants.

Shunyi and Chaoyang are at a standstill, with public transport halted in both districts, public venues closed and residents told to stay home.

Several parks in Beijing were also closed indefinitely on Monday. Chaoyang Park, the largest within the 4th Ring Road, was closed until further notice along with the Olympic Forest and Shunyi parks.

Complaints about the inconvenience of the precautions have been mounting. Kan Zewang, 72, a retired engineer in Haidian district, said the mass testing had become too frequent and the queues were too long.

“I did seven tests in the past 12 days! Is it really necessary? No cases have been reported in my neighbourhood at all,” Kan said.

“I queued for an hour this morning to get the test done. It was very crowded. For people like me who spend most of their time at home, if we get infected, it’s highly likely it will be from a mass-testing site.”

Tracy Gu, 28, a former bookstore manager in Chaoyang, said her leisure time would be further curtailed with the park closures.

“I’ve just lost my job after the business collapsed amid Covid-19. Going for a daily jog in Chaoyang Park offered some rare relief from my situation – now the park is closed,” she said.

“While the government seems to be obsessed with stringent measures to control Covid-19, I can’t help asking myself: when will we get back to normal? Or will we?”