Beijing Lowers COVID-19 Response Level... Prepares Younger Students for School Return and Starts Consumption Promotion

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Park Sun-mi] At 2 p.m. on the 6th, when the COVID-19 response level in Beijing, the capital of China, was downgraded from Level 2 to Level 3, a remarkable scene unfolded in front of an elementary school in Chaoyang District, Beijing, with a large crowd of students and parents gathering. It was the moment when the school gates, which had been firmly closed since the Lunar New Year holiday due to the COVID-19 crisis, were wide open for the first time in five months.

The reason students and parents flocked to the school on a weekend Saturday was for nucleic acid testing for COVID-19 diagnosis. On that day, first to third-grade elementary students gathered at the school between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. to undergo nucleic acid testing, which lasted about 40 minutes per class. One to two days before the test, teachers sent urgent notifications to parents, urging them to gather in front of the school so that all students could receive the nucleic acid test.

The sudden nucleic acid testing of students was conducted ahead of the school reopening. Elementary schools in Beijing are preparing for offline classes for lower grades starting on the 15th, in accordance with government recommendations. However, many schools have yet to complete the final inspection of the COVID-19 hygiene preparedness required by the government, so the exact reopening dates have not been clearly confirmed or notified.

Although the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in China has not been high, the fact that Beijing, as the capital city where the strictest quarantine measures were applied, is preparing for the return of the last remaining lower-grade elementary students following other grades that have already reopened indicates that the end of COVID-19 in China is near.

From the 6th, when Beijing’s COVID-19 response level was downgraded to Level 3, various quarantine measures were relaxed. Community managers no longer conduct temperature checks on building entrants, COVID-19 barriers were removed, and previously blocked residential complex entrances were allowed to reopen. Until now, Beijing’s apartment complexes had strictly controlled access by opening only one entrance while closing the others.

Attempting normalization, Beijing also distributed consumption coupons worth 12.2 billion yuan (approximately 2 trillion won) to revive the local economy. These coupons can be used at online and offline stores, e-commerce apps, restaurants, and retail shops, and were issued online starting at 10 a.m. on the 6th, when Beijing’s COVID-19 response level was lowered. Red promotional banners for the “Beijing Consumption Season” were hung on the exterior walls of shopping malls in Wangfujing, Xidan, and Dongdan, where many shopping centers are concentrated.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.