The authorities of the Chinese capital, Beijing, ordered the closure of cinemas Saturday, while the country recorded a rise in Covid-19 infections, less than a hundred days before the Winter Olympics, which start on the fourth of February.
Beijing, which organized the 2008 Summer Olympics, will become the first city in the world to host competitions within the Winter Olympics as well.
In this context, the authorities have adopted strict measures to eliminate the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic in China, which is currently less than 300 infections, but the virus is still rampant in about a third of the 30 Chinese provinces, including Beijing.
The municipality said Friday that all cinemas in Xicheng District will remain closed until November 14. The area, with a population of more than one million people, includes neighborhoods west of Tiananmen Square.
Beijing’s decision comes at a time when China announced on Saturday that it had recorded 59 new local cases of COVID-19 nationwide, a record level not recorded since mid-September.
These numbers may seem low compared to those recorded daily in other parts of the world, but they are prompting the authorities to redouble their efforts in the run-up to the Winter Olympics, which begin on February 4.
The new epicenter of the epidemic is located in the town of Earnhot, on the border with Mongolia, more than 650 kilometers from Beijing.
Currently, about six million Chinese live in quarantine due to the precautionary general closure in the cities where injuries have been discovered.
Entry to many areas is now conditional on showing a negative result for the Covid-19 examination, especially for those coming from cities where infections were discovered recently.
On Friday, nearly half of flights from the capital’s two main airports were canceled, and the authorities advised not to leave the city unless necessary, as well as asking Beijing residents to postpone weddings.
.