Beijing man breaks Covid isolation ‘many times’, forcing entire community to be quarantined

Thousands of residents in Beijing were forced into quarantine after a man violated the order to stay at home and went on to test positive for Covid-19 as China marked the end of weeks of strict lockdown guidelines.

The man, who is in his forties and goes by the second name Sun, was asked to isolate after he visited a “high-risk” shopping centre, according to a report by AFP.

Police officials have launched an investigation into the incident.

Now, more than 5,000 of his neighbours have been asked to quarantine at home or in the government facilities.

Public security official Pan Xuhing said that Mr Sun “went out many times” and walked in the neighbourhood at the time he was required to isolate himself at home and not come in contact with other people, exposing thousands to the virus.

The man and his wife tested positive later, following which officials locked down 5,000 of their neighbours indoors and dispatching another 250 to a government quarantine facility.

This comes at a time when authorities in China are bracing to reopen the largest city Shanghai after a two-month lockdown which has continued to wreak havoc in Beijing and torpedoed the economy as strict protocols blanketed millions.

Shanghai’s vice mayor Zong Ming said that the authorities will open the full bus and subway services along with basic rail connections similar to the rest of the Asian country.

The city will start the process of fully restoring work and life from Wednesday, the top official said.

"The epidemic has been effectively controlled," Ms Zong said,

In the fresh set of directives aimed at easing Covid protocols, the schools will reopen partially on a voluntary basis for students, while officials have said that shopping malls, supermarkets and convenience stores will reopen gradually and will not accommodate more than 75 per cent of their total capacity.

However, cinemas and gyms will remain closed.

In a throttling “zero-Covid strategy”, authorities in China barred millions and millions of people in strict lockdown across cities as it continued to monitor the virus outbreak with mass testing and isolation policy for those infected.

However, the latest economic data showed that Chinese manufacturing activity started to rebound in May as the government rolled back some containment measures.

Locals poured out on the streets earlier this week on Monday after two districts in Beijing allowed workers to resume working from offices with a decline in cases. A total of 18 cases were recorded on Monday.

The Shanghai tourism authority said that the outdoor tourist sites will also reopen for the public from Wednesday. The indoor sites will be accessible for tourism from June, the officials said.