BEIJING - Finance executive Wang Ying was looking forward to finally having some time off on vacation now that her 10-year-old son was back in school for a week and having finished a busy period at work.
Her home in the Xicheng district of central Beijing was close to a market labelled a"hot spot" and was ordered under a two-week lockdown, with no one allowed in or out of residential estates. This means that all students have to return to online learning, a way of life for nearly four months. "The virus is right here at our doorstep, and we don't even know how it originated, so there's a lot more cause for worry," she told The Straits Times from her home in the northern Changping district, more than 50km from the Fengtai district where the market is located.
While her estate has not been put under lockdown, she has been prevented from leaving the city since Fengtai is the city's only high-risk area. Residents are now afraid of dining out and many are eschewing personal care services like haircuts and massages for fear that close contact might spread the virus.