Beijing is facing its most severe test of the Covid-19 pandemic, officials in China’s capital warned on Monday as they shut businesses and schools in hard-hit districts and tightened entry amid mounting infection numbers in the city and the country.
China is fighting numerous Covid-19 outbreaks, from Zhengzhou in central Henan province to Chongqing in the south-west. It reported 26,824 new local cases for Sunday, nearing the country’s daily infection peak in April.
It also recorded two more deaths in Beijing after one on Saturday which was China’s first since late May.
Guangzhou, a southern city of nearly 19 million people that is battling the largest of China’s recent outbreaks, ordered a five-day lockdown for Baiyun, its most populous district. It also suspended dine-in services and shut nightclubs and theatres in the city’s main business district.
