Beijing advises against traveling outside city during Dragon Boat holiday

Special: Battle Against Novel Coronavirus

The Beijing government is encouraging all residents to spend the coming Dragon Boat Festival in the city and people should avoid infection by staying away from places of high or medium risk for COVID-19, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Dragon Boat Festival falls on June 3 this year, and people will have a three-day holiday starting on Friday.

Beijing has lifted some control measures as the city's latest COVID-19 outbreak has been effectively contained and is trending downward, and so it's expected that the nearby suburban areas in the capital will see a small rebound in tourism.

The city government announced on Saturday that hotels and homestays in suburban districts-Mentougou, Pinggu, Huairou, Miyun and Yanqing-can resume operation.

According to online travel agency Qunar, the number of searches for suburban rentals doubled on Saturday from the day before.

"I won't go to other provinces in the coming holiday considering the epidemic situation across the country," said Beijing resident Li Yunlu.

"I plan to take the family to Huairou to spend the holiday, enjoying the natural sightseeing and local food."

However, not all residents will be spending the holiday this way. The capital has adopted different control measures across districts and regions based on different epidemic situations.

Fengtai district, which has reported new cases recently, is asking residents to stay in the district and not go out unless it's absolutely necessary.

Beijing reported five new locally transmitted cases as of 3 pm on Tuesday, bringing the total number of infections to 1,757 since April 22, according to Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

Of the new infections, except for one case discovered at the community level, all were reported in quarantine locations.

Of the 1,757 cases found during the latest outbreak, as of Tuesday afternoon, Chaoyang district had registered 424, the most in the outbreak, followed by Fangshan, which had reported 413 cases since April 22.

As of Monday, Beijing had three high-risk areas for COVID-19 and 12 medium-risk areas.

Beijing has completed the construction of an air-inflated testing lab in Fangshan district, covering an area of 4,000 square meters, which will have a daily testing capacity of 100,000 tubes, according to Fangshan district on Tuesday.

The lab has six chambers and is being checked by authorities before it is put into operation.

The project will accelerate the city's nucleic acid testing quality and efficiency, said Zou Jingsong, a senior district official.