Beijing to carry out additional mass nucleic acid screening

Beijing: Beijing will conduct three rounds of nucleic acid testing in 12 districts from Monday to Wednesday in an effort to curb the risk of Covid-19 amid the latest outbreak in the Chinese capital, local authorities said.

According to a senior official from the Beijing municipal health commission, the testing will cover people in the districts of Dongcheng, Xicheng, Chaoyang, Haidian, Fengtai, Shijingshan, Fangshan, Tongzhou, Shunyi, Changping, Daxing, and the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area.

This comes as the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Beijing remains grave and the city is determined to take strict and swift action to curb the spread of the pandemic in order to achieve the goal of social zero Covid as soon as possible.

The latest move follows three mass Covid screenings that took place from May 13-15 in the 12 districts.

Residents in the remaining five suburban districts of Mentougou, Pinggu, Huairou, Miyun, and Yanqing will need to take routine nucleic acid tests.

During the mass testing from May 13-15, health authorities identified multiple infections in key industries and venues, including the public transport and courier sectors as well as construction sites, Wang said.

The official said the mass screenings play an important role in helping authorities implement control measures in a timely manner, detect potential risks, and cut off virus transmission routes.

Beijing reported 55 new locally transmitted Covid-19 infections between 3 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, Pang Xinghuo, deputy head of the Beijing municipal disease prevention and control centre, told reporters.

A total of 45 cases were detected among people under closed management and 10 were identified in mass testing, Pang said.

The city currently has 18 areas classified as high-risk for Covid-19 and 26 classified as medium-risk.