China's capital reimposes travel curbs to stop new coronavirus infections

China sharply ramped up restrictions on people leaving the capital on Tuesday in an effort to stop the most serious coronavirus flare-up since February from spreading to other cities and provinces. The decision to impose fresh curbs and raise the city’s emergency response level back to II from III came as Beijing’s current outbreak rose to 106 infections since Thursday. The outbreak has been traced to the sprawling Xinfadi wholesale food centre in the southwest of Beijing where thousands of tonnes of vegetables, fruit and meat change hands each day. As of Tuesday, Beijing had designated 27 neighbourhoods as medium-risk areas, subjecting people entering to temperature checks and registration. More broadly, Beijing will strictly control the movement of people in and out of the city, with both inbound and outbound travellers required to undergo tests, said Chen Bei, deputy secretary-general of the Beijing municipal government. But the measures fall short of a lockdown, with roads and highways still open and Beijing’s two airports in operation. <br/>