China locks down Guangzhou in Covid-19 crackdown

The southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou locked down its largest district Monday as it tries to contain a major Covid-19 outbreak, suspending public transit and requiring residents to present a negative test if they want to leave their homes.

The outbreak is testing China's attempt to bring a more targeted approach to its zero-Covid policies while facing multiple outbreaks driven by fast-spreading omicron variants.

The Baiyun district, home to 3.7 million people in Guangzhou, suspended in-person classes for schools and sealed off universities.

Restaurants have been ordered to stop dine-in services.

The measures are meant to last until Friday, the city announced.

Guangzhou, a city of 13 million people, is the biggest of a series of hot spots across China with outbreaks since early October.

Meanwhile in Beijing, the capital reported two more Covi-19-related deaths.

On Sunday, the city reported China's first Covid-19 death in over six months.

In Chaoyang, the city's most populous district and home to 3.45 million people, restaurants have been ordered to operate take-away service only and all non-priority business facilities have been asked to close over the weekend.

While critics have questioned China's Covid-19 numbers, and specifically its death toll, its intensive approach to trying to contain infections has prevented massive outbreaks and kept new daily cases lower than in many other countries.

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China is the only major country in the world still trying to curb virus transmissions through strict lockdown measures and mass testing.