Coronavirus in China: ‘critical moment’ for Beijing with cases at record high

Business district Chaoyang bears brunt of the outbreak, shuts office buildings, parks and museums

City faces ‘most complex and severe’ prevention and control situation since pandemic began: health official

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A near-empty commercial area in China’s capital Beijing on Monday. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 6:00pm, 22 Nov 2022Updated: 8:30pm, 22 Nov 2022

China’s capital Beijing has shut down office buildings, museums and parks as its Covid-19 caseload jumped to a record high of 1,438 local infections on Tuesday morning. In-person teaching has also been suspended.

The latest figures are more than double Saturday’s case count, with 207 found through community screening.

Office buildings in the Chaoyang central business district shut down on Monday afternoon to “quickly cut the chain of transmission”.

Several parks, including Chaoyang Park and the Olympic Forest Park, were closed from Tuesday until further notice, along with the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution and other galleries.

The government also encouraged residents in Chaoyang district to “slow down their lives” at a press conference on Tuesday, asking them to not leave the district unless absolutely necessary, use online learning, online meetings and telephone communications to reduce visits to schools and offices.

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