Dozens of metro stations and bus routes in Beijing have been shut down as COVID continues to spread and millions of residents in Shanghai still remain under strict lockdown even after more than a month.

China’s capital city Beijing has shut more than 40 subway stations, about a tenth of the network, and 158 bus routes, service providers said. Most of the suspended stations and routes are in the Chaoyang district, the epicentre of Beijing’s outbreak, reported The Express Tribune.

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Beijing is also resorting to mass testing. Twelve out of 16 Beijing districts were conducting the second of three rounds of tests this week, having done three mass screenings last week.

The city has also closed schools, some businesses and residential buildings in high-risk areas. Investment in China by international companies has also been badly affected which further undermines China’s growth.

On Wednesday, metros and buses were shut down in a campaign to stop the spread of COVID-19. A day earlier, on Tuesday, another city, Zhengzhou, announced work-from-home and other COVID curbs for the coming week.

Home to 12.6 million people the central city of Zhengzhou also has a factory of Apple’s iPhone manufacturer Foxconn. The city joins dozens of big cities in full or partial lockdown, as per the media outlet.

Shanghai’s lockdown has come under heavy criticism, with people unable to access essential medical care.

In a bizarre incident, an elderly person in a Shanghai nursing home was mistakenly taken to the morgue while still alive, local media reported, as the city’s prolonged lockdown continues to put a strain on city health facilities amid renewed COVID-19 outbreak.

The country’s much-publicized “zero-covid” strategy that the government credited for bringing the country out of the pandemic till recently is falling apart as the rapidly mounting cases are again forcing mass lockdowns like those seen in 2020