China's capital sharpens COVID screening to prevent Shanghai-like chaos

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing closed some schools and public spaces on Thursday, as most of the Chinese capital's 22 million residents turned up for more mass COVID-19 testing aimed at averting a Shanghai-like lockdown.

Most people in Shanghai were one month into stressful home isolation, struggling to meet basic needs. But there was hope on the horizon as the number of new cases declined further and officials said their focus was shifting towards boosting vaccinations among the elderly. read more

Fears were growing, however, that China would be trapped in a whack-a-mole game in coming months, lifting lockdowns in some places, while imposing others elsewhere, causing severe economic damage and exasperating its population.

As Beijing rolled out three rounds of mass testing this week across most of the city, it locked down a number of residential compounds, offices and a university.

Some schools, entertainment venues and tourist sites were also shut. Universal Studios in Beijing said it would require visitors from Friday to show negative test results before they could enter the theme park.