A staff member instructs as people line up for nucleic acid test in Songzhuang Township, Tongzhou District of Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 20, 2021. Beijing Municipality reported one new locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 case on Sunday, the city's health commission said Monday. (Photo:Xinhua)

Six people were arrested by Beijing police for breaking coronavirus prevention rules. They were involved in secretly bringing in cold-chain lorry drivers from risk areas in East China's Zhejiang Province to the capital city without taking nucleic acid tests.

The drivers, who were from medium- and high-risk areas in Zhejiang, were asked by their superior Wang to enter Beijing multiple times without negative virus test results, and to escape anti-epidemic examinations, and, they hid in a car of their colleague that brought them into the capital city, local police in Beijing's Tongzhou district said in a statement issued on Saturday. 

Zhejiang announced on November 16 that it entered a crucial stage in containing a new outbreak, which hit Ningbo, Shaoxing and Hangzhou cities particularly hard which reported more than 350 cases. 

Beijing tightened its inbound personnel control since November 17, specifying that travelers who have stayed in or traveled to areas that reported COVID-19 infections in the past 14 days are strictly limited to enter Beijing. 

Facing dual risks from sporadic home flare-ups and emerging Omicron variant breakthroughs before the Chinese New Year and the 2022 Winter Olympics, Beijing has revised its COVID-19 prevention and control measures, calling on its residents to spend the upcoming holidays in the city. 

However, Beijing also vowed to avoid the "one-size-fits-all" approach, and will make sure those who wish to leave the city can do so.

"College students and migrant workers have been studying and working hard for a year, and are looking forward to going back home for reunions during the Spring Festival holidays. For such groups of people with strong needs, relevant departments will do their best to ensure the transport, ticketing, and other supplies," read the notice issued by the municipal government of Beijing. 

Global Times