Ryan Woo, Eduardo Baptista

BEIJING/SHANGHAI – Millions of Beijing residents waited for another round COVID-19 test on Sunday. China’s capital aims to find and eliminate any infected individuals to prevent a prolonged, uncontrolled lockdown like that of Shanghai.

China’s stringent COVID regulations in Beijing, Shanghai, and many other large cities are having a devastating psychological impact on people. This is making China the 2nd-largest country and disrupting international supply chains.

Chinese authorities remain determined to eliminate the coronavirus and not live with it like other countries. Authorities threatened legal action last week to punish critics of their zero-COVID policy.

The majority of Shanghai’s 25 million inhabitants, China’s largest city and commercial center, were kept in their homes for over a month. Many are complaining of being unable to obtain food and access to basic medical services.

Shanghai has seen its risk level officially reduced to the extent that they can leave their homes under government rules.

Some were allowed to walk or go grocery shopping for a short time, but most were locked behind the gates. This led to frustration and even rare clashes with authorities wearing hazmat suits.

Beijing wanted to prevent such drama and worked relentlessly to isolate and track infections.

Residents lined up on Sunday for another round in Fangshan, Chaoyang and Fengtai district tests, as well as small portions of other areas where infection was detected during the last two weeks.

In the capital, it has almost become a routine. Many people need to have a current negative result even if they don’t face the mass test.

HEALTH App – ‘ABNORMALITIES’

Beijing banned entertainment and gyms, closed restaurants that serve dine-in and shut down scores of bus routes. It also closed almost 15 percent of its subway network.

People were more relaxed than usual and did not want to be considered close contacts with COVID patients. The only businesses that were open suffered.

According to a barber, Song asked for anonymity and said that his Chaoyang salon is now seeing far fewer customers since the outbreak.

“They’re afraid of getting abnormalities in their health apps,” Song said, referring to the mobile monitoring software all residents must use. “North of us are malls and offices that have been sealed, and their apps might mark them as close contacts if they came.”

Song indicated that his salon will keep open for as much time as possible. However, he wasn’t sure how long. “This outbreak has truly unsettled everyone.”

Beijing’s COVID daily cases number in the hundreds, far lower than Shanghai’s during its own epidemic, in which infections rose to the triple digits.

Shanghai cases declined for the ninth consecutive day, according to Sunday data. However, it remained at thousands.

Shanghai, like other Chinese cities is currently building thousands upon thousands of permanent PCR test stations. This seems to indicate that most people will return to their normal lives once they are out in the street again, even though many of them remain indoors.

Authorities warn that this is still a long way off.

China’s top leaders met last week to discuss how the nation will fight any action or comment that would undermine, discredit or reverse its COVID policy. Officials from Shanghai and the Shanghai party warned not to be complacent.