China district enacts COVID lockdown

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou locked down its largest district Monday as it tries to tamp down a major COVID-19 outbreak, suspending public transit and requiring residents to present a negative test if they want to leave their homes.

The outbreak is testing China’s attempt to bring a more targeted approach to its zero-COVID policies while facing multiple outbreaks driven by fast-spreading omicron variants. China is the only major country in the world still trying to curb virus transmissions through strict lockdown measures and mass testing.

Baiyun district, home to 3.7 million people in Guangzhou, also suspended in-person classes for schools and sealed off universities. The measures are meant to last until Friday, the city announced.

Meanwhile in Beijing, the capital reported two more COVID-19-related deaths. On Sunday, the city reported China’s first COVID-19 death in nearly six months.

Beijing officials announced at a news conference that starting today, anyone arriving from outside the city would have to stay at home for three days and test negative for three days in a row before being allowed out, state broadcaster CCTV said in an online report.

While critics have questioned China’s COVID-19 numbers, and specifically its death toll, its intensive approach to trying to contain infections has prevented massive outbreaks and kept new daily cases lower than in many other countries.

Guangdong province, home to Guangzhou, reported the largest number of new cases Monday with 9,085 out of a total of 27,095 cases nationwide.