Beijing enforces mass COVID testing, closes neighborhoods

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing has been enforcing mass testing and closing down access to neighborhoods as China’s capital seeks to contain a new COVID-19 outbreak. The announcement of the mass testing in the city of 21 million had sparked panic buying Monday, but the situation appeared calmer Tuesday with public transport and roads largely normal. Fears of total lockdown have been fed by the situation in the southern business hub of Shanghai, where 25 million residents have only gradually been allowed to leave their homes after three weeks of confinement. The central city of Anyang, Dandong on the North Korean border and Baotou in Inner Mongolia have also begun lockdowns.