Chinese capital tightens Covid controls to stamp out spread of bar cluster

Beijing starts mass testing for district of 3.5 million after resident’s night of partying sparks new outbreak

City’s reopening is thrown into chaos as 183 test positive so far, with new cases still emerging

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A medical worker takes a swab sample from a person at a mobile Covid-19 testing booth in Beijing on Monday.
Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:02pm, 13 Jun 2022

Beijing started a new round of mass testing in its most populous downtown district on Monday after a rapidly spreading outbreak linked to a bar saw Covid rules tightened again in the capital.

China is the last major economy still committed to a zero-Covid strategy, stamping out new cases with a combination of targeted lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines.

But that strategy is being stretched to the limit by the fast-spreading Omicron variant, as both Beijing and Shanghai have seen fresh clusters just days after lifting restrictions such as lockdowns, restaurant and office closures.

Beijing residents line up for mass testing on Monday. Photo: AP Photo

A night of partying by one Beijing resident last week threw the city’s tentative reopening into chaos, leading authorities to close nightlife venues in the downtown district of Chaoyang days after they reopened last Monday.

The resident, who did not get tested for 14 days, went to several bars and nightlife venues in Chaoyang in the days before and after developing a fever.

The outbreak stemming from the Heaven Supermarket bar has infected at least 183 people in 15 districts so far.

The cluster “arrived with ferocious momentum and the difficulty of prevention and control is huge”, Beijing government spokesman Xu Hejian said on Sunday.

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