Beijing Opens Up Restaurants, Cinemas As China Continues Easing

Life in Beijing will take a step closer to returning to normal Monday, as the capital rolls back Covid-19 restrictions having previously declared the latest outbreak of the virus was under control.

Public transport will resume in most districts, except Fengtai and some parts of Changping, allowing workers to return to the office and restaurants to start dine-in services, local authorities said in a statement Sunday.

Entertainment facilities like cinemas will open in most areas, with capacity capped at 75%. Residents are allowed to move about freely as long as they have a negative Covid test result within the past 72 hours. The previous requirement was 48 hours.

The capital reported 6 infections for Sunday, down from 19 on Saturday.

In Shanghai, cases fell to 8 on Sunday from 22 on Saturday. Relief over last week’s lifting of a grueling two-month lockdown has been curtailed somewhat by an uptick in cases outside government mandated quarantine. Three of the cases were found outside quarantine.

China’s overall outbreak has been trending down steadily, but prevention remains “complicated” with new clusters emerging in Inner Mongolia and other areas, Lei Zhenglong, an official at the National Health Commission, said at a briefing on Sunday.