COVID CHAOS
Beijing facing ‘critical’ Covid crisis as China plunges 400MILLION people into lockdown amid ‘worst ever’ cases
BEIJING is facing a "critical" Covid situation as more than 400 million people in China are plunged into lockdown.
China has reported record high infections and in response has imposed harsh restrictions as it continues to battle the virus, almost three years after the pandemic emerged in Wuhan.
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Some 31,527 cases were recorded on Wednesday compared with the April peak of 28,000.
Beijing is going back into lockdown as part of China's harsh 'Zero Covid' lockdown measures.
Schools, restaurants, gyms, beauty salons, and other facilities have been closed this week.
Beijing's health authority posted a message on Chinese social media platform Weibo saying "the epidemic control situation is at a critical time in the city".
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Hu Hejian, a city spokesman, added: "We will continually improve the epidemic prevention and control measures to curb the rapid rise as soon as possible."
The capital now requires a negative PCR test result within 48 hours for those seeking to enter public places such as shopping malls, hotels and government buildings.
The streets of Chaoyang, the capital's most populous district, are now all but empty.
Sanlitun, a high-end shopping area, was nearly silent on Thursday but for the whirring of the e-bikes of delivery riders ferrying meals for those working from home.
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Several other cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing have tightened Covid restrictions as cases have climbed.
Some 412 million people across China are in some kind of lockdown measures in 49 cities, around 30 per cent of the population, investment bank Nomura estimates.
The six million residents of Zhengzhou are also in lockdown after workers at the huge iPhone factory battled hazmat suited security personnel.
Meanwhile the northeastern city of Changchun in Jilin province has urged its residents to halt non-essential movement.
Hundreds of workers took to the streets around the vast factory in Zhengzhou, confronting hazmat-clad personnel wielding batons in a rare display of public anger in China.
In the wake of the unrest, city authorities ordered mass testing and an effective lockdown for several districts.
City centre residents cannot leave the area unless they have a negative Covid test as well as permission from local authorities and have been told not to leave their homes "unless necessary".
The restrictions will affect more than six million people but do not cover the iPhone factory, where workers have already been under Covid restrictions for weeks.
China's 'Zero Covid' policy has been ruthlessly pursued by the country's President Xi Jinping.
Many experts say the policy has left the country on the brink of disaster - potentially sowing the seeds for his own overthrow.
As the rest of the world returns to normal, China has placed 280 million people in Covid lockdown this year, turning the country into a “huge prison” and damaging the economy.
Botched attempts to produce its own vaccine and unwillingness to swallow its pride and import them, leaves draconian lockdowns as the only way to tackle Covid.
The lockdown has left desperate Chinese fighting to get their hands on food as drones buzz around making sure they comply with the rules.
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Covid Zero has pushed Chinese citizens to the limits and there have seen protests in cities throughout China, including Shanghai.
And in one extraordinary demonstration in Beijing just days before party Congress was due to open, a brave protester unveiled a banner on a motorway bridge denouncing Xi as a “thief” and “dictator”.
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