BEIJING: Authorities in China’s capital Beijing raced on Monday to contain a Covid-19 outbreak traced to a 24-hour bar known for cheap liquor and big crowds, with millions facing mandatory testing and thousands under targeted lockdowns.

The outbreak of 228 cases linked to the Heaven Supermarket Bar, which had just reopened as restrictions in Beijing eased last week, highlights how hard it will be for China to make a success of its “zero Covid” policy as much of the rest of the world opts to learn how to live with the virus.

The re-emergence of infections is also raising new concerns about the outlook for the world’s second largest economy. China is only just shaking off a heavy blow from a long lockdown in Shanghai — its most populous city and commercial nerve centre — that also disrupted global supply chains.

“Epidemic prevention and control is at a critical juncture,” a Beijing health official, Liu Xiaofeng, told a news conference on Monday, adding that the outbreak linked to the bar in the city’s biggest district, Chaoyang, was “still developing”.

In a show of how seriously authorities are taking the situation, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan visited the bar and said it was necessary to strengthen Covid prevention and control of key places, state media reported on Monday.

People infected in the outbreak live or work in 14 of the capital’s 16 districts, authorities have said.

Published in Dawn,June 14th, 2022