Less than a month after softening pandemic restrictions, China has reinstated some “zero-Covid” policies in an effort to control a new wave of infections surging across the country.
Covid-19 cases have climbed almost every day since late October, and China recently recorded its first coronavirus-related death in months. In response, officials have closed businesses, resumed citywide lockdowns and reinstated frequent testing requirements.
China stands alone as the only major country still going to extreme lengths to eradicate Covid-19 infections, raising questions about when, if ever, its economy might fully reopen.
The photographs below show scenes across a country once again disrupted by lockdowns.
Barriers formed a security checkpoint in Guangzhou in southern China’s Guangdong Province, earlier this month. Below, a health care worker taking a swab sample for Covid-19 testing in Beijing on Tuesday.
Red fences blocked access to public recreation areas and exercise machines near the Futian District border crossing in Shenzhen.
A newly opened mall in Nanshan District in Shenzhen, which is home to many technology companies.
A lock barred the entrance to a local bar at Xiasha Village in Shenzhen.
In Beijing on Tuesday, a woman waited to cross a nearly empty intersection in the Central Business District during rush hour. Most workers are now expected to work from home, and many offices are closed.
Earlier this month, a worker in protective gear kept watch near metal barriers that blocked off shuttered shops as part of Covid-19 controls in Beijing.
A coronavirus testing site in Beijing.
Residents lining up for routine testing at a site in Beijing.
People lined up for Covid-19 tests at a testing site in a tunnel in the central business district of Beijing this month.
Security guards in protective masks monitored a popular shopping district in Beijing on Sunday after stores and restaurants were closed.
Steam is seen on the windows as staff sit for a meal at a restaurant that was closed for indoor dining in Beijing on Sunday.
A woman wearing a mask and carrying her belongings walked down a street with shuttered bars in Beijing on Sunday.
