The Chinese capital of Beijing warned of more coronaviruses after it reported a spike in new infections over the weekend. The main business district of Chaoyang in Beijing, which has about 3.5 million residents, has also imposed new restrictions as the prolonged lockdown continues in Shanghai.
Over the weekend, there will be more COVID 19 cases confirmed as mass testing in the Chaoyang business district began, according to CNBC. There have been unidentified cases in the city for a week now, according to local authorities. The Chinese capital reported 42 new coronaviruses cases since Friday, marking the highest weekend increase in new cases since its latest surge. There were 19 new infections on Sunday, triggering action from local officials.
During a news briefing Saturday, Tian Wei said that the city has recently seen several outbreaks involving multiple transmission chains, and the risk of continued and undetected transmission is high. Tian said that the situation is urgent and grim, and he urged action from the whole city.
Beijing's largest district and business center, Chaoyang, announced mass testing Sunday. The three-day mass testing procedures kicked off Monday morning. Chaoyang previously put some residential communities under control management, which prevented residents from leaving the area while testing progressed. The Deputy Head of Chaoyang, Yang Beibei, said residents should try to reduce their social activities. She added that all sports, art and training schools in Chaoyang have suspended in-person classes since Saturday. All regional tour groups were suspended in Chaoyang after the confirmation of an investigation into a COVID 19 case involving a tour group in a Beijing suburb. One residential community in the business district has been tagged as a high-risk area.
There is a public outcry over the prolonged lockdown in China's biggest city, Shanghai. The city has seen an increase in COVID 19 cases over the last few weeks.
On Saturday, Shanghai officials were barricaded some residential buildings with mesh barriers in what the local government described as hard isolation. There were reported to have at least one person who tested positive for COVID -- 19 in buildings with erected barriers. Some residents took to social media to express their frustration over the barricaded facilities in the city of 26 million people.
Over the past week, Reuters reported that Chinese police were seen in hazmat suits setting up roadblocks and directing people back to their homes. The outlet said that it saw green fencing on one street in central Shanghai on Sunday, although it couldn't verify the authenticity of photos uploaded on social media regarding the barricades.
According to the World Health Organization WHO China, there have been 995,928 confirmed COVID 19 cases and a total of 14,742 deaths linked to the disease as of April 22. The novel coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province late in 2019, but details about the virus only emerged publicly in early 2020.