Beijing is expected to embrace a New Year holiday with reduced numbers of large-scale public activities and outbound travel, as the Chinese capital city faces a resurgence of sporadic cases.
Beijing’s largest amusement park, Happy Valley, announced it will close at night from Monday, and its New Year’s Eve event will be cancelled as well. The amusement park planned to hold a concert to celebrate the New Year on Thursday.
Beijing discourages against holding large events such as temple fairs and sports gatherings during the New Year and upcoming Spring Festival holidays, according to municipal government official Chen Bei. In order to reduce large gatherings of people, Beijing will strictly review applications for holding major events.
Cinemas, libraries, museums and entertainment venues will have to operate at 75 percent capacity, she said.
Officials at Party and government organs should take the lead in staying in Beijing for the two festivals and be subjected to strict reviews and approval if they need to leave the capital.
In the past 13 days, from December 14 to Saturday, Beijing reported a total of 13 confirmed infections; three in Chaoyang district, one in Xicheng and nine others in Shunyi.
The Global Times found that many other cities in China has imposed similar restrictions like Beijing, leading into the New Year.
The Canton Tower in East China’s Guangzhou won’t hold any countdown events; and some scenic spots in Nanjing, Jiangsu Profvince also said they won’t hold any festive events on New Year’s Eve.
Tourists enjoy their time in Changsha, central China’s Hunan Province, on Oct. 5, 2020, the fifth day of National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)
