Beijing begins mass testing of millions of residents after Covid spike
Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Apr, 2022 03:46 PM
Beijing, April 25 (IANS) Beijing has kicked off mass testing for millions of residents in the Chinese capital after a spike in Covid cases,a media report said on Monday.
The Chaoyang district reported 26 cases over the weekend, the highest number so far in Beijing's latest surge, said the BBC report.
All 3.5 million residents in Chaoyang, Beijing's most populous district, will undergo three rounds of mass testing, according to a notice by the city's disease prevention team.
The news prompted residents to rush to stock up essential supplies, with images circulating on local media showing supermarket shelves emptied of goods and snaking queues at check-out counters.
Beijing's major supermarkets also extended their opening hours to accommodate the spike in demand.
It comes amid fears that Beijing could face a similar situation to Shanghai, which has seen some 25 million people shut in their homes for weeks.
"Never thought I would go to the market early in the morning... When I got there, all the eggs and prawns were gone and all the meat was snatched up," the BBC quoted a Weibo user in Shanghai as saying, adding they managed to get some vegetables.
Another Weibo user in Shanghai said: "Seeing people in Beijing rush to buy food is both funny and distressing... it's like looking at what my own life was like just last month."
They also quoted health experts as saying that the results of the mass testing would indicate whether there is a need to escalate measures further, such as locking down several areas, the BBC reported.
The latest outbreak in Shanghai, first detected in late March, has seen more than 400,000 cases recorded so far and 138 deaths.
Some of the measures Chinese authorities have enforced include placing electronic door alarms to prevent those infected from leaving and forcibly evacuating people from their homes to carry out disinfection procedures.
Some in locked-down areas of Shanghai say they have been struggling to access food supplies, and forced to wait for government drop-offs of vegetables, meat and eggs.
Shipments of precious frozen vials of vaccine made by Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech began arriving at hospitals around the country Monday.
The go-ahead for the vaccine developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech comes as the virus surges again in the United States and Europe, putting pressure on hospitals and morgues in some places and forcing new rounds of restrictions that have devastated economies.
Announcing the results on Monday, Moderna said it has submitted emergency use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to apply for a conditional marketing authorisation with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and to progress with the rolling reviews, which have already been initiated with international regulatory agencies.
Protest by thousands of farmers from Punjab and Haryana took place in New Delhi over the weekend entering its fifth day Monday as the farmers continue to showcase their displeasure against the Centre's new farm laws.
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