Beijing requires 48-hr negative COVID-19 test result to enter public venues

A staff member checks the nucleic acid test results of customers outside a Walmart store in Beijing, capital of China, May 1, 2022. A negative nucleic acid test result within 48 hours is required to enter public venues during the Labor Day holiday in Beijing. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Residents in Beijing will be required to have a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours to enter public spaces from Saturday, the municipal government said Friday.

A negative test result will be required to enter public venues during the upcoming five-day Labor Day holiday, and students and employees should produce their test results before they go back to work or school after the holiday, according to a press conference on local epidemic prevention and control work.

Beijing reported 31 locally-transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and three asymptomatic cases between 3 p.m. Thursday and 3 p.m. Friday, said Pang Xinghuo, deputy head of the Beijing municipal disease prevention and control center. A total of 228 local infections have been logged in Beijing since April 22.

On Friday, two communities in Beijing were classified as high-risk and medium-risk areas for COVID-19, respectively. The latest classifications have brought the total number of high-risk areas in Beijing to six and medium-risk areas to 19.