Virus testing the new normal as China sticks to ‘zero-COVID’ strategy

Many cities including Beijing are requiring a negative test result within the last three days to enter a public place or take the bus or subway

Thousands of COVID-19 testing booths have popped up on sidewalks across Beijing and other Chinese cities in the latest twist to the country’s “zero-COVID” strategy.

Lines form every day, rain or shine, even where the spread of the virus has largely stopped. Some people need to go to work. Others want to shop. All are effectively compelled to get tested by a requirement to show a negative test result to enter office buildings, malls and other public places.

Liu Lele, who works for a live-streaming company, has no problem getting tested regularly but said the daytime operating hours don’t always fit his schedule.

“Sometimes I get held up at work,” he said after finishing a test on June 9 near Beijing’s historic Bell and Drum towers. “I wish there were sites open 24 hours or not closing until 7 or 8 p.m.”

Regular testing of residents is becoming the new normal as the ruling Communist Party sticks steadfastly to a “zero-COVID” approach that is increasingly at odds with the rest of the world.

Major cities have been told to set up testing stations within a 15-minute walk for all residents. Beijing and Shanghai alone have put up 10,000 or more each. Many of them are enclosed square booths from which gloved workers reach out through openings to take a quick throat swab from the next person in line.

Many cities including Beijing are requiring a negative test result within the last three days to enter a public place or take the bus or subway. Some have made it a week or 10 days. The tests are free, with the result reflected on the person’s smartphone health app roughly 12 hours later.