Coronavirus: China is getting back on its feet, but who forgot to tell Beijing?
- Strict social distancing and quarantine measures remain in force in the nation’s capital, where fears of a second wave of imported infections remain high
- On Saturday, Beijing’s Chaoyang district was identified on an official app as the country’s only Covid-19 ‘high-risk zone’
Although the municipal government has urged businesses and other organisations to resume their normal operations as quickly as possible, in the hope of preventing the local economy falling further than it already has – gross domestic product dropped 6.6 per cent year on year in the first quarter – the tight control measures make that easier said than done.
Many public venues, including museums, libraries and theatres, remain closed, and although most supermarkets and shopping malls have reopened, entry to them is via body temperature checkpoints. Similarly, restaurants and coffee shops have had to rearrange their tables and chairs to ensure they do not accommodate too many customers at once.
As well as Capital International Airport, the district is home to Beijing’s most expensive office buildings, embassies and several popular shopping zones. It covers about 470 sq km (180 square miles) and is home to 3.6 million people.
Chen Xi, an investment banker who lives in Chaoyang, said he was caught off guard by the severity of Beijing’s quarantine rules after returning from a business trip earlier this month to the southeastern province of Anhui.