Mass Covid Test Is Taking Place In China After Shanghai Reported More Than 52 Deaths

The capital of China, Beijing is witnessing a high rise in the COVID cases and the death rate is increasing as well. With the current spike in the number of patients, Beijing has declared a mass COVID test for all.

At the same time, Shanghai has faced a total of 52 deaths within a short span. The district of Chaoyang has also reported more than 26 cases within a weekend. This is the highest number in Beijing’s last surge.

Amidst the chaos, long queues outside the supermarkets and food stalls can be seen even though Government has assured sufficient food. The anticipation and fear have risen as the citizens of Beijing are expecting that a situation like Shanghai can occur.

With more than 3.5 million residents in Chaoyang, Beijing is the most populous district in China and it would require a total of 3 mass testing waves to cover the whole area and each of the citizens. The city’s disease prevention team is working round the clock to tackle the situation.

As soon as the news is prompted, the residents are rushing to replenish their stocks with essential supplies and food to survive the situation. Local media is showing that supermarket shelves are getting rapidly emptied while queues are forming long outside the stores. The supermarkets have extended their opening hours in order to accommodate the increased demand.

A citizen from Shanghai said, “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,” who only managed to get some vegetables for their stock.

Another Weibo user 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.”

According to the national media, the fresh food companies in Beijing are ordered to spike their production to help with the supplies, such as meat, poultry eggs, and vegetables.

The news of mass testing suggests that soon a series of lockdowns can take place as the number of patients will definitely rise after the test takes place. Deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Pang Xinghuo has also agreed with the fact.

The latest spread in Shanghai has been noticed in March and since then the capital has witnessed more than 400,000 cases along with 138 deaths.

The Chinese authorities are taking drastic measures to tackle the situation whether it is electronic door alarms that stop infected people from going out of homes or green barricades to mark the areas where citizens cannot go out of their houses.

Unlike other countries, China is desperate and follows a zero-covid strategy in order to eradicate the disease completely from the nation. Other than Shanghai and Beijing, more than 20 cities are affected and around 30 million people suffering under lockdown.