Downtown Beijing goes quiet as zero-Covid policy smothers capital


A worker in a protective suit collects a swab from a resident at a makeshift nucleic acid testing site amid the Covid-19 outbreak, in Beijing, China on May 9, 2022. - Reuters

BEIJING (AFP): Millions of people in Beijing stayed home on Monday (May 9) as China's capital tries to fend off a Covid-19 outbreak with creeping restrictions on movement.

Beijing residents fear they may soon find themselves in the grip of the same draconian measures that have trapped most of Shanghai's 25 million people at home for several weeks.

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