Beijing opens a new test, Shanghai postpones university exams because of COVID-19

COVID-19 test in Dongcheng district, Beijing capital, China on May 5 – Photo: Xinhua

According to Reuters news agency, on the morning of May 7, Beijing officials opened a new round of COVID-19 testing in Chaoyang, the largest district of the Chinese capital and home to many embassies and large office buildings.

Residents in other areas with confirmed F0 cases in Beijing will also need to be tested this weekend.

On May 7, Beijing recorded 45 symptomatic cases and 8 asymptomatic cases in 24 hours, down from 55 symptomatic cases and 17 asymptomatic cases the day before.

Beijing is trying to avoid a major outbreak like Shanghai by implementing mass testing, banning restaurant service in many districts and shutting down more than 60 metro stations, or about 15% of the network. metro network of the capital.

Meanwhile, on May 7, Shanghai recorded 253 symptomatic cases, accounting for the majority of the total 345 symptomatic cases in China in the past 24 hours. In addition, the city also reported 3,961 asymptomatic cases out of a total of 4,275 asymptomatic cases in China.

More than 25 million people in Shanghai have been living in lockdown for more than a month. In recent weeks, some residents in areas without F0 cases have been allowed to leave their homes, but most people in the city are still unable to leave their residential areas.

Shanghai’s new cases have fallen for eight consecutive days, allowing the city to close some of the makeshift hospitals that were rushed to build earlier when the number of new cases per day spiked.

On May 7, the Shanghai government announced the postponement of the university entrance exam (gaokao) for one month for the city’s students, after saying that Shanghai is controlling the epidemic well but has not yet been able to relax. complete limitations. The last time this happened was in 2020, during the initial outbreak.

In addition, Shanghai, along with other cities, is also building thousands of permanent PCR testing stations as China wants COVID-19 testing to become a daily routine.