COVID: Beijing residents stock up as city braces for new wave

As the lockdown in Shanghai enters its fourth week, China's capital Beijing is also bracing for a potential surge of COVID-19 cases, as authorities roll out a plan to test 90% of the city's 21 million residents, according to the state-run media outlet Global Times.

Starting from Tuesday, authorities are expected to carry out three rounds of testing across 11 districts in Beijing.

Prior to the city-wide testing, mass-testing already began in Chaoyang district on Monday, where authorities have found 46 cases and more than a dozen residential buildings have been put under lockdown.

Residents told DW that testing sites were set up in each community and that staff from local health authorities had knocked on people's doors to ask them to get tested. "Some larger communities even have two testing sites and all tests were free," said a woman surnamed Lin, who lives in Chaoyang district.

Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing municipal center for disease prevention and control, said during a press conference on Monday that initial epidemiological studies of the cases showed the transmission chain is basically clear, according to the Global Times.

However, authorities also warned that multiple risks for escalating the outbreak remain as population flow is expected to increase with the upcoming May Day holidays in China.