Beijing's COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control faces a major test with sporadic cases re-emerging and the New Year and Spring Festival holidays fast approaching, the Beijing government said on Friday, calling on companies not to arrange business trips outside of the capital and abroad and advising residents not leave the city during the Spring Festival holidays in addition to schools and companies staggering their holidays.
Beijing encourages residents to stay in the capital during the holidays, and not to visit cities and regions at high or medium risk of COVID-19 infection. Officials at Party and government organs should take the lead in staying in Beijing for the festival and will be subjected for strict review and approval if they need to leave the capital, Chen Bei, deputy secretary-general of the Beijing municipal government, said at Friday's media briefing.
In order to reduce the clustering of people, Beijing will strictly review applications for holding major events, and not organize big gatherings such as sports events or temple fairs, Chen said.
Cinemas, libraries, museums and entertainment venues have to operate at 75% capacity, she said.
On reducing risks during travel, the capital urged operators of airlines, railways and expressways to strictly implement temperature checking and disinfection.
