Covid situation in Beijing extremely severe

Close contacts of confirmed Covid-19 cases were found to have visited the Universal Studios theme park in Beijing on October 24, Global Times reported.

Beijing reported two new locally transmitted cases on Saturday, both in Changping district. Changping closed 23 businesses, including pharmacies and hair salons, after closing 44 businesses for their slack implementation of epidemic prevention and control measures.

The Universal Studios theme park notified all visitors who came to the part on October 24 to have nucleic acid testing and necessary health checks, and said all the park staff members have undergone nucleic acid testing and received a Covid-19 vaccine booster shot.

The Beijing government on Friday urged the Universal Studios theme park to implement Covid-19 emergency management, after the Chinese capital reported nearly 30 confirmed cases in less than two weeks.

Beijing's Haidian district will take nucleic acid tests of all students in primary and middle schools.

Meanwhile, all teachers are also required to take the tests. Vaccination on students aged above three years old will begin starting from November 1.

The China Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing announced closure for three days immediately from Saturday, with all scheduled performances and activities cancelled due to epidemic concerns.

Xicheng district closed all movie theatres on Saturday until October 4.

The Beijing Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that the epidemic situation in Beijing is extremely severe which requires high vigilance and strict measures, and in-door venues such as chess rooms have to suspend services.

Beijing's latest Covid-19 flare-ups are Delta variant-related, and the virus strain is similar to the recent coronavirus cases reported in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Gansu province, the Beijing government said, the report added.