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A nucleic acid Covid-19 testing booth in Beijing’s Chaoyang district, a bar cluster from where has spread to 14 of the city’s 16 districts. Photo: Xinhua

Covid-19 cases rise in China, as ‘ferocious’ Beijing bar cluster and Inner Mongolia trigger worries

  • Countrywide tally rose to 196 from 138 on Saturday, National Health Commission says
  • Beijing bar cluster has spread to all but two districts, as cases keep rising in locked down Inner Mongolian border city
China reported an uptick in Covid-19 cases on Sunday, as the capital Beijing battled a resurgence in infections and a border prefecture in Inner Mongolia became the new epicentre of its latest wave.

The countrywide daily Covid-19 tally rose to 196, from 138 the previous day, according to the National Health Commission. Of these, 122 were confirmed cases, and the rest asymptomatic – which China counts separately.

This came as Beijing, just a week after resuming dine-in services, once again tightened containment measures as it faced a new cluster linked to a bar in Sanlitun – an area of Chaoyang district known for its nightlife.

The city reported 33 new confirmed cases as of 3pm on Sunday, after logging 34 confirmed and 31 asymptomatic infections the previous day.

The bar cluster has so far been linked to 166 cases, spreading across 14 of the city’s 16 districts since Thursday. Officials warned of more to come among both patrons and close contacts.

A mostly deserted pedestrian shopping street in Beijing. Photo: AP
“The bar cluster is ferocious,” Beijing municipal government spokesman Xu Hejian said on Sunday. “We are facing more difficulties in containing this than the previous wave and the cluster at the Xinfadi wholesale market in 2020. Risks of further spread still persist.”

The city has announced three days of mass testing from Monday in Chaoyang district.

Xu said efforts were needed to prevent any “new pandemic amplifier” that may lead to a further worsening of the outbreak, and to cut transmission chains as soon as possible.

The national capital has postponed a series of reopening plans in the face of the resurgence in cases, including that of the Universal Beijing Resort, which had planned to reopen next Wednesday after being closed since late May.

School pupils will continue remote learning, except for those in ninth grade, who will still return to class from Monday as previously announced.

China’s online maps now dotted with Covid-testing booths

Meanwhile, the northern border province of Inner Mongolia reported 78 new confirmed and eight asymptomatic cases, with its worst-affected city placed under lockdown.

The outbreak in Inner Mongolia has been centred on the city of Erenhot, bordering Mongolia to the north and hosting the only railway port between the two countries.

The city reported 409 infections in the past nine days and has been placed under strict lockdown. State news agency Xinhua reported that nine rounds of citywide mass testing had been conducted since the outbreak began on June 2, and a second makeshift hospital with 468 beds started admitting Covid-19 patients on Thursday.

A staff member checks the health code and Covid-19 test result of an examinee in Chifeng in Inner Mongolia. Photo: Xinhua

Dandong in Liaoning province near the North Korea border recorded five new asymptomatic cases. The entire city has been under lockdown since the first cases were reported in late April.

To the east, China’s biggest city Shanghai logged 10 confirmed and 19 asymptomatic infections on Saturday. The city of 25 million, China’s leading finance, business and shipping hub, had recently reopened after two months under lockdown.

As Beijing doubles down on its “dynamic zero-Covid policy” despite the high transmission rate of the Omicron variant, megacities and border cities in China are at higher risk of virus outbreak and consequently being put under strict lockdowns.

China adds 138 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, Beijing, Shanghai in the lead

The country would “unswervingly adhere to the general policy of ‘dynamic zero-Covid’,” President Xi Jinping said during a visit to Sichuan province earlier in the week.

Major cities nationwide have been setting up Covid-19 testing booths within a 15-minute walking distance, as regular negative nucleic acid results become a requirement for going to school or work, and even for shopping or eating out.

Guo Yanhong, an official in the NHC’s medical administration and supervision department, said on Thursday that testing points within a 15-minute walk were required in border cities, provincial capitals and cities with a population of over 10 million.

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