Residents woke up on Wednesday to an early morning announcement that dozens of subway stations and bus routes have been shut down as city authorities scramble to restrict movement as part of its efforts to stamp out an ongoing Covid-19 outbreak.
Over three dozen subway stations and around 150 bus routes were suspended indefinitely, the city government said in a statement.
The city has recorded a little over 500 Covid-19 infections – out of a population of around 22 million, including 51 for May 3 – since the outbreak began on April 22.However, the low caseload hasn’t stopped authorities from restricting movement by public transport, locking down some communities, and suspending schools at least till May 11, especially in the populous Chaoyang district, which has around 3.5 million residents.
A majority of the cases were reported from Chaoyang where the central business district, embassies and large number of hotels and bars are located.The city government has ruled that residents will need to furnish a negative nucleic acid test, taken in the week before, to use public transport from Thursday when government and private offices resume work after the five-day Labour Day holiday.
