COVID-19 spreads in Beijing; 2 held over disorder

By Kiyota Higa and Miyuki Yoshioka / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondents

14:09 JST, November 20, 2022

BEIJING/GUANGZHOU — The Chaoyang District of Beijing called Friday on its about 3.5 million residents to stay home for the weekend, as the novel coronavirus continues to spread in the Chinese capital.

Restaurants have stopped serving in-house food and drinks, in line with a directive based on China’s zero-COVID policy, which is designed to contain infections.

Chinese authorities have stated that this is a critical time to contain the outbreak.

Beijing also banned eating and drinking inside the city’s restaurants in May as a measure against infection, prompting complaints from residents.

The city confirmed 515 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday.

Meanwhile, police in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province reported Friday that two 23-year-old women were detained for disrupting order, following a street-based altercation with a quarantine officer over the women not having had a PCR test since the end of October.

In a video that went viral on social media, the women are seized by the officer who ties their hands behind their backs. The video drew criticism from a number of people, who wrote, “This is too much,” and “It’s just like the Cultural Revolution.”