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Corona outbreak in Beijing, residents rounded up

Footage shows officials in hazmat suits barking orders through a megaphone while people line up in queues and pack into buses, the UK Daily Mail reports.

By Associated Press and World Israel News

Beijing reported a slight increase in new coronavirus cases Wednesday as it fights a new outbreak with strict measures aimed at reducing human contact and the chances of a new wave of infections across the country.

More than 60% of commercial flights in and out of Beijing have been canceled, limiting travel to and from the city, especially from districts where new cases have been detected.

The website of the Communist Party’s Global Times said that as of 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, a total of 1,255 flights to and from the capital’s two major airports have been scrapped.

Beijing had essentially eradicated local transmission but in recent days has added 137 cases in the city of 20 million people.

The UK Daily Mail reports that China is rounding up Beijing residents and forcing them into quarantine.

Footage shows officials in hazmat suits barking orders through a megaphone while people line up in queues and pack into buses, the new site reports.

On Wednesday, the capital reported 31 cases, up from 27 the day before, in an outbreak that has been primarily linked to a wholesale food market.

Nationwide, China reported 44 new cases, around the average for recent days. Eleven of those were brought from abroad by Chinese travelers, while one other local case was from Hebei province adjacent to Beijing and one in the eastern province of Zhejiang further south.

No new deaths were reported and just 252 people are currently in treatment for COVID-19, with another 113 being isolated and observed for being suspected cases or for testing positive for the virus without showing any symptoms.

In Beijing, visitor numbers at museums, libraries and galleries will be capped at 30% of capacity while sporting events are being suspended along with other large group activities.

Meetings can be held under stringent conditions with less than 100 participants, an allowance considered important to keeping China’s central government functioning.

Group tourism across city and provincial borders is suspended, adding to bans on residents from high-risk areas from leaving Beijing and bans on taxis and car-hailing services from transporting people across the city border.

Mask wearing, social distancing and disinfecting will all be more tightly enforced. Checks at the entrance to residential communities are also being tightened, with some requiring proof that people have not traveled to places where infections have been reported.

A number of communities near a pair of markets where cases have been found have been put on total lockdown and thousands of people ordered to be tested. Anyone who visited the markets has been ordered to self-isolate for 14 days and undergo a test.

In total, China has reported 4,634 deaths from COVID-19 among 83,265 cases.