Beijing expands mass testing to most of city

People line up to be tested for in Beijing on Tuesday. Pic/AFP

China's capital Beijing swiftly expanded its COVID-19 mass testing from one district this week to most of the city of nearly 22 million, adding to expectations of an imminent lockdown similar to Shanghai's. Beijing began testing the residents of its most populous district Chaoyang on Monday.

By the end of the day, even though only a fraction of the results had come out, the city decided to conduct tests on 10 other districts and one economic development zone by Saturday. The Chinese capital reported 33 new locally transmitted cases for April 25, the city's health authority said on Tuesday, of which 32 were symptomatic and one was asymptomatic. That was slightly higher than 19 community infections reported a day earlier.

Beijing's decision to now test roughly 20 million people came just days after tens of infections were found.

3,48,582 No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours
50,75,01,771 Total no. of cases worldwide
62,20,390 Total no. of deaths worldwide

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