China reports 24,473 new COVID cases; some Beijing businesses shut
World
Beijing reported 79 symptomatic and 436 asymptomatic cases for Friday.
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China reported a slight decline in new COVID-19 cases on Saturday as numerous cities across the country battled outbreaks and restaurants and many other businesses in Beijing shut after authorities urged people to stay home over the weekend.
Authorities have recently taken some steps to try ease the impact of their tough zero-COVID policy approach, which is battering the word s second-biggest economy and sowing frustration and anger, even as case numbers have risen to their highest since April.
Numerous businesses in Beijing s Chaoyang district, the capital s main financial and diplomatic area, have shut or announced only limited services.
One restaurant owner in the nightlife hub of Sanlitun told Reuters that authorities had told him and other outlets in the area to close for three days from Saturday.
The outlying Beijing districts of Fangshan and Huairou announced additional testing requirements for people entering from other provinces.
Beijing reported 79 symptomatic and 436 asymptomatic cases for Friday compared with 100 symptomatic and 366 asymptomatic cases the previous day, government data showed.
Beijing authorities are on high alert in the hope of preventing the numerous Omicron variant outbreaks in other cities from spreading to the capital.
The latest data for the country showed 24,263 new domestically transmitted cases, of which 2,055 were symptomatic and 22,208 were asymptomatic, down from 25,129 the previous day.
