Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - Shanghai began testing nearly all of its 25 million citizens for COVID-19 on Saturday as officials sought...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - Shanghai began testing nearly all of its 25 million citizens for COVID-19 on Saturday as officials sought to curb an outbreak linked to a famous beauty salon, while Beijing reported an increase in cases.
This weekend, authorities in 15 of Shanghai's 16 districts have required PCR testing for all residents, with five districts prohibiting individuals from leaving their homes during the testing time.
Ten days have passed since the city lifted a two-month lockdown aimed at eradicating the spread of COVID-19 throughout the population. On Saturday, Shanghai reported seven additional local symptomatic cases for the previous day, six of which were outside of quarantined regions.
Additionally, the city reported nine additional asymptomatic cases, up from six the day before.
China's capital reported an increase in COVID instances on Saturday, highlighting the difficulty of enforcing the country's zero-COVID policy, which officials claim is necessary to protect the elderly and the medical system.
Beijing reported 36 new symptomatic cases, up from seven the day before, and 25 new asymptomatic cases, up from one the day before.
BAR CONGEST
At least two districts, including the city's most populated, Chaoyang, began to implement additional COVID restrictions on Thursday, following an outbreak in an area famed for its nightlife, shopping, and lanes lined with embassies.
The incidents were associated with a bar called as Heaven Supermarket Bar. Since then, there has been an increase in infections, with Beijing announcing on Saturday that all 61 new cases discovered in the city on Friday had either visited the pub or had connections to it.
So far, a total of 69 instances linked to the bar have been reported, with victims from 14 of Beijing's 16 districts, putting the 22 million-person metropolis back in a state of fear.
Less than two weeks ago, Beijing eased sweeping COVID restrictions established to combat a large outbreak that began in April.
With the reappearance of COVID, the expansive Universal Beijing Resort announced late Friday that it will remain closed until further notice. Beijing authorities report that three of its employees had visited the bar.
The National Health Commission announced on Saturday that mainland China reported 210 new coronavirus cases on June 10, of which 79 were symptomatic and 131 were asymptomatic.
This was an increase over the previous day's 151 new cases, which included 45 symptomatic and 106 asymptomatic illnesses, which China records separately.
There were no new fatalities, bringing the total number of fatalities to 5,226. On Friday, mainland China confirmed 224,659 symptomatic cases.
