Beijing is fighting against the largest Covid-19 outbreak the city has ever seen. Although the capital city has managed to avoid major strict lockdowns since the start of the pandemic, it is now struggling to contain this wave of local cases.
This weekend, Beijing reported 621 new Covid cases within 24 hours. The city’s Chaoyang District has seen the most cases, and on November 20 from 0:00 to 15:00, Chaoyang reported 357 new cases.
As of 7:00 am on November 20, Beijing’s Ditan Hospital, which is located in Chaoyang, had admitted 608 patients with Covid, including 431 ‘light’ cases and 171 asymptomatic ones. A day earlier, the hospital reported the death of one Covid patient with underlying medical conditions – Beijing’s first Covid-19 death in months.
Local authorities asked residents not to meet up, to stay home as much as possible, and not to leave the district (“非必要不跨区”), starting a ‘semi lockdown.’
Beijing’s Haidian District published a similar statement on November 19, saying that the current Covid situation in Haidian was at a “critical stage.” The city’s Fengtai District also advised people to only go out if necessary.
Many residents complain about another round of ‘working from home’ and ‘home quarantine’: “I went out an visited a hospital recently, and because there was a Covid positive patient there, I had to stay at home. Then my community discovered a positive case and I had to stay at home some more. Now the company informed us that we’re supposed to stay home. My stay at home is getting longer and longer!”
Others are also expressing despair: “Once the lockdown of the dorms is over, then the company gets locked down, once the company’s lockdown ends, my hometown is locked down. When can I ever get home?”
One Beijing resident writes: “You are not giving the ordinary people a way out. At the word of command, all restaurants are closed, getting take-out has become impossible. May I ask, who can I turn to to get reimbursed for my rent and employee wages? Who can give me a way to survive?”
“This all is like magic realism. I really do not understand,” one female Weibo user from Beijing writes: “I received an epidemiological surveillance call, telling me to stay home for seven days (..) I asked my community and they said no need, three days and three checks is fine. Then another district is letting Chaoyang workers stay home, yet now companies in Chapyang are letting workers from Chaoyang come to work, and let staff from other district stay home, hahaha, I’m so confused it just makes me laugh.”
“So we’re not opening up at all?”, another person asked, while another person wrote: “Beijing needs to be more decisive in its prevention and control measures if it wants to suppress the epidemic, otherwise there is a danger of repeating the same mistakes as Guangzhou.”
Earlier this week, changing Covid policies in Shijiazhuang seemed to be a signal of the start of a nationwide relaxion of Covid rules, just days after new Covid rules were announced by Chinese health authorities.
Because many testing locations closed around Beijing on Monday (Nov 14), some had seen it as a sign that the city was changing its Covid policies.
Political commentator Hu Xijin, who happens to reside in Beijing’s Chaoyang, wrote on November 20: “The kind of ‘opening up’ that some people want is not possible, at least not in China this winter or next spring. Whether they like it or not, this is my judgment. So it is useless to discuss this idea now, as it will only cause confusion and increase the impatient mood in society.”
As he previously did, Hu maintains that complete ‘liberalization’ nor complete lockdowns are the answer to China’s current Covid predicament, so he advocates maintaining a large level of control without a tremendous impact on economy and social life.
Despite the many people supporting his stance, there are also dozens of commenters who criticize it. “It’s all fine as long as you’re getting your pay,” some said: “We’re losing hope.”
To read more on the latest regarding Covid-related trends on Chinese social media, check our recent articles here.
By Manya Koetse
Get the story behind the hashtag. Subscribe to What’s on Weibo here to receive our newsletter and get access to our latest articles:
Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us. First-time commenters, please be patient – we will have to manually approve your comment before it appears.
©2022 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.
The post Beijing Fighting Record-Breaking Numbers of Covid Cases appeared first on What's on Weibo.