China lets kids as young as THREE take a PCR Covid test to play in the park
Children from 3 years old must undergo a Covid PCR test to play in the park
They must also show a green health code on the system that monitors movements
Users on Chinese social media Weibo wondered how useful the policy will be
It’s the latest hard Covid imposition as Beijing prepares to host the CCP conference
<!–
<!–
<!– <!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
China allows children from the age of three to take a PCR test to be able to play in Beijing’s parks, the Beijing city council announced.
Children must show a negative test result no older than 72 hours as China tightens its strict zero-Covid rules.
They will also have to show a green health code on the system that monitors people’s movements within the city under Covid regulations.
Previously, children were exempt from taking tests as long as the parents met entry requirements for parks and other public places.
The new rule has still been poorly received, even among a population accustomed to harsh and strict rules, with the issue trending on Twitter-like Weibo in China and posters wondering how useful the policy will be.
The move is the latest escalation in Beijing’s increasingly frenetic efforts to bring Covid under control in the Chinese capital.
Frequent testing to identify and crush transmission chains before they spiral out of control is the authorities’ main method of containing Covid.
China allows children as young as three to take a PCR Covid test to play in Beijing’s parks
Children must show negative test result no older than 72 hours as China tightens its strict zero-Covid rules to play in public areas
They must also show a green health code on the system that monitors people’s movements within the city according to Covid regulations
But this approach is coming under increasing pressure as China must isolate itself from the rest of the world in an effort to push back more transmissible species, such as the Omicron variety.
So far, Beijing has managed to contain recent flare-ups without resorting to widespread and unpopular lockdowns – as seen in Shanghai, but pressure is strong to maintain this in the run-up to the upcoming Chinese Communist Party Congress in the second. half of 2022.
Chinese Prime Minister Xi Jinping is expected to secure an unprecedented third term as leader of the party in Congress, though his record on Covid, which was originally a force, is increasingly becoming a risk.
For children in Beijing, they were included in previous rounds of mass testing and so it will not be an enormous burden to submit to one of them to play in the park.
Mop booths are being set up across the country as part of mass testing policies, starting with major cities, to fulfill a pledge to ensure residents will always be just 15 minutes’ walk from a mop point.
So far, Beijing has managed to contain recent flare-ups without resorting to widespread and unpopular lockdowns – as seen in Shanghai, but pressure is strong to maintain this in the run-up to the upcoming Chinese Communist Party Congress in the second. half of 2022
Beijing’s most recent cluster was linked to a bar, and an infection has never been linked to a park
A hashtag linked to the story was one of the top five trending items on China’s Twitter-esque Weibo on Wednesday (June 22), with posters wondering how useful the policy will be.
For kids who want to play in parks, they now have to get their national ID cards on a machine or have their health status checked on someone else’s phone.
Beijing’s most recent cluster was linked to a bar, and an infection has never been linked to a park.
More than 95 percent of Chinese children between the ages of three and 17 have now been fully vaccinated, according to the latest data.