Staff members of Beijing Public Transport hold signboards to remind passengers of showing health QR codes at a bus stop in Beijing, capital of China. Photo:Xinhua

The Beijing government announced to allow dining in restaurants from Monday except for Fengtai district and parts of Changping district, one month after it banned the service citywide to contain the Omicron variant. Primary and middle school students will also resume offline classes from June 13. 

Beijing has made progress in containing the spread of the Omicron variant in the latest wave, since April 22. Majority of Beijing has reported no COVID-19 community transmissions for at least seven days except for some districts, and life and work in most parts of the capital will return to normal. Districts with community transmissions have to adhere to current strict control measures to realize zero target as soon as possible, the Beijing government said while announcing ease of restrictions for districts except Fengtai and parts of Changping that still reported infections. 

Restaurants that have been allowed to reopen dine-in services have to control the number of dinners, maintain reasonable spacing between dinners and advocate taking out services and mobile payment, according to the Beijing government. 

Residents who previously worked at home will be allowed to commute to offices, and buses subways, and taxies will resume normal operation. But passengers have to show a negative nucleic acid test result taken within 72 hours to take buses and subway trains.

Primary and middle school students will return to campuses from June 13, and kindergarten children will resume classes from June 20. All kinds of after-school training institutions will reopen services and colleges should organize students to return home in an orderly manner. 

Deliverymen can enter into communities and items should be placed at the doors, shelves to reduce physical contact. 

Travel agencies in the capital will resume the group tour business for travels around Beijing, and those participating in the group tour should complete the full vaccination. All kinds of scenic spots, parks, libraries, museums, art galleries, cultural centers, sports and fitness venues will open at 75 percent capacity.

Residents have to present a negative nucleic acid test result taken within 72 hours in order to enter all kinds of public venues, offices, buildings and communities. 

Those who enter or leave Beijing must show a negative nucleic acid test result taken within 48 hours and health code, and they have to undergo two more nucleic acid tests within 24 or 72 hours after arriving in Beijing.  

Beijing reported 1,812 infection cases involving 15 areas from April 22 to Saturday, the Beijing government said.  

Global Times