Volunteers wearing face masks to help protect from the coronavirus chat with each other at an information booth for the Beijing Winter Olympics Games at Qianmen Street, a popular tourist spot in Beijing, Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022. Chinese authorities have called on the public to stay where they are during the Lunar New Year instead of traveling to their hometowns for the year’s most important family holiday. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
BEIJING (AP) — People in a Beijing district with some 2 million residents were ordered Sunday to undergo mass coronavirus testing following a series of infections as China tightened anti-disease controls ahead of the Winter Olympics.
The government told people in areas of the Chinese capital deemed at high risk for infection not to leave the city after 25 cases were found in the Fengtai district and 14 elsewhere.
The ruling Communist Party is stepping up enforcement of its “zero tolerance” strategy aimed at isolating every infected person as Beijing prepares to open the Winter Games on Feb. 4 under intensive anti-virus controls.
On Sunday, Fengtai residents lined up on snow-covered sidewalks in freezing weather for testing.
The Chinese capital must “take the most resolute, decisive and strict measures to block the transmission chain of the epidemic,” a city government spokesman, Xu Hejian, told a news conference.
“In principle, personnel in risk areas shall not leave Beijing,” Xu said.
Nationwide, 56 new confirmed infections were reported in the 24 hours through midnight Saturday. The National Health Commission said 37 were believed to have been acquired abroad.
“In principle, personnel in risk areas shall not leave Beijing,” Xu said.
Nationwide, 56 new confirmed infections were reported in the 24 hours through midnight Saturday. The National Health Commission said 37 were believed to have been acquired abroad.
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