China makes children as young as THREE take a PCR Covid test to play in the park 

China makes children as young as THREE take a PCR Covid test to play in the park

  • Children as young as three must take Covid PCR test in order to play in the park 
  • They must also show a green health code on system that controls movements 
  • Users on Chinese social media Weibo questioned how useful the policy will be 
  • It is the latest harsh Covid imposition as Beijing prepares to host CCP congress 

China is making children as young as three years old take a PCR test in order to play in Beijing’s parks, the Beijing Municipal Administration Centre of Parks announced.

Children will need to show a negative test result that is no older than 72 hours as China tightens its strict zero-Covid rules.

They will also be required to show a green health code on the system that controls people’s movements within the city under Covid regulations.

Previously, so long as the parents met entry requirements for parks and other public places, children were exempt from taking tests. 

The new rule has still been received badly even among a population used to having harsh and stringent rules imposed upon them, with the issue trending on China’s Twitter-like Weibo and posters questioning how useful the policy will be. 

The move is the latest escalation in Beijing’s increasingly frantic efforts to get to grips with Covid in the Chinese capital. 

Frequent testing to identify and crush transmission chains before they explode out of control has been authorities’ primary method for containing Covid. 

China is making children as young as three years old take a PCR Covid test in order to play in Beijing's parks

China is making children as young as three years old take a PCR Covid test in order to play in Beijing’s parks

Children will need to show a negative test result that is no older than 72 hours as China tightens its strict zero-Covid rules in order to play in public areas

Children will need to show a negative test result that is no older than 72 hours as China tightens its strict zero-Covid rules in order to play in public areas

They will also be required to show a green health code on the system that controls people's movements within the city under Covid regulations

They will also be required to show a green health code on the system that controls people’s movements within the city under Covid regulations

But this approach has come under increasing pressure as China is forced to isolate itself from the rest of the world in an effort to beat back more transmissible strains such as the Omicron variant. 

So far Beijing has managed to contain recent flare ups without resorting to widespread and unpopular lockdowns – as seen in Shanghai, but the pressure is on to maintain this ahead of the upcoming Chinese Communist Party congress in the second half of 2022.

Chinese premier Xi Jinping is expected to secure an unprecedented third term as leader of the party at the congress, although his record on Covid which was originally a strength is increasingly looking to be a liability.

For children in Beijing, they were included in previous rounds of mass testing and so having to submit to one to play in the park is not going to come as a huge imposition. 

Swabbing booths are being set up across the country as part of the mass testing policy, starting with the major cities, to meet a pledge to ensure residents will always be just a 15 minute walk away from a swabbing point.

So far Beijing has managed to contain recent flare ups without resorting to widespread and unpopular lockdowns - as seen in Shanghai, but the pressure is on to maintain this ahead of the upcoming Chinese Communist Party congress in the second half of 2022

So far Beijing has managed to contain recent flare ups without resorting to widespread and unpopular lockdowns – as seen in Shanghai, but the pressure is on to maintain this ahead of the upcoming Chinese Communist Party congress in the second half of 2022

Beijing's most recent cluster was linked to a bar, and there has never been an infection linked to a park

Beijing’s most recent cluster was linked to a bar, and there has never been an infection linked to a park

A hashtag linked to the story was one of the top five trending items on China’s Twitter-like Weibo on Wednesday (June 22) morning, with posters questioning how useful the policy will be.

For kids wanting to play in parks, they’ll now need to swipe their national identification cards on a machine or have their health status checked via someone else’s phone.

Beijing’s most recent cluster was linked to a bar, and there has never been an infection linked to a park.

Over 95 per cent of Chinese children between three and 17 years old are now fully vaccinated, according to latest data.

source: dailymail.co.uk