Schools are closed indefinitely in Beijing, while the last subway lines in Shanghai that were still running have ceased operation.
The Chinese authorities are tightening coronavirus restrictions in Shanghai and Beijing, heeding a message from the country’s top leader to double down on the zero-Covid strategy. In Shanghai, where residents have been under lockdown since April 1, private food delivery services were being suspended in some neighborhoods despite cases falling to a six-week low. Some residents were told not to step outside their homes, and that the government would help to deliver groceries. In Beijing, where the daily case count rose to 74 on Monday, officials announced that schools would be closed indefinitely, and many of the city’s office workers have been told to work from home. Other cities around China continue to pursue various forms of partial or full lockdown. The tightening comes even as China’s daily count was at its lowest since mid-March, with a nationwide total of 3,426 new cases reported on Monday. Local officials have been on high alert, however, since the country’s top leader, Xi Jinping, urged the country to persist with a strategy of eradicating the virus and to allow no criticism of the approach.
