Beijing residents told to delay weddings and keep funerals brief as authorities try to halt Covid spread
- Disease controls have been tightened across China as the authorities stick to zero-tolerance approach in run-up to Winter Olympics
- Millions of people around the country have been locked down over a handful of cases and travel restrictions imposed
But China is now grappling with flare-ups in a dozen regions linked to tourists, spurring officials to order millions to stay home, restrict interprovincial travel and ramp up testing.
Case numbers remain far lower than in most countries, with 48 new domestic infections on Friday bringing the tally to fewer than 250 in the past week.
But authorities are not taking any chances, with tens of thousands of people in Beijing – which will host the Winter Olympics in February – under lockdown after a handful of cases were detected.
Residents should “postpone weddings, keep funerals brief, don’t organise banquets, and reduce unnecessary gatherings”, deputy chief of the city’s disease control centre Pang Xinghuo said at a Friday press conference.
Tourist spots will further limit capacity, while the newly opened Universal Studios resort will enter a “state of emergency epidemic prevention”, said Beijing’s deputy publicity chief Xu Hejian, without giving further details.
Queues stretched down the roads outside Beijing’s medical centres as people sought to comply with newly enhanced Covid controls.