Citizens in China’s capital Beijing flooded supermarkets on May 12 to stock up on essentials amid fears of authorities imposing a three-day COVID-19 lockdown and banning home deliveries, media reports said.
A video tweeted by news agency AFP showed chaotic scenes in the supermarkets across the city as people waited in large queues to stock up on groceries .
"This is quite unhealthy because people are in a very nervous mood," Reuters quoted local resident Grace Zhao as saying. Zhao was seen waiting in a 50-metre queue outside a supermarket in Chaoyang, which is one of the most populous districts in Beijing and the epicentre of the current COVID-19 outbreak.
The authorities, however, denied that Beijing was headed towards a lockdown, clarifying that these are just rumours, China’s state-owned media Global Times said. However, local residents have been advised to stay at home and take nucleic acid testing in the next three days as the city tries to curb transmission as early as possible.
Denying the lockdown rumours, Beijing government spokesperson Xu Hejian said around 22 million residents of the city need not be nervous about food supply as deliveries would not be halted.
“It is unnecessary to hoard food,” Hindustan Times quoted him as saying.
By May 12 evening, the shelves of local shops and vegetable markets were cleaned up.
Meanwhile, Beijing further tightened COVID-19 restrictions on May12, restricting access to taxis in virus-hit places. Authorities have already banned dine-in services at restaurants in Chaoyang and also closed some malls, entertainment places and tourist destinations. Some residential buildings in the area have also been sealed off.
During the weekend, the Beijing government plans to conduct three more rounds of consecutive mass testing for those living in the city’s 11 main districts and one economic zone.
