BEIJING/SHANGHAI, April 27 (Reuters) – Millions of people in Beijing took their second COVID-19 test of the week on Wednesday as the Chinese capital tried to prevent an outbreak numbering in the dozens from escalating into a crisis like the one the locked-down city of Shanghai endures.

Evidence that Shanghai’s month-long isolation has become almost unbearable for much of the city’s 25 million people appears almost daily on the country’s heavily censored internet.

Widely circulated video – since taken down – showed a foreigner trying to break through metal barriers on a Shanghai street, only to be pulled back and dragged to the ground by four people in hazmat suits.

“I want to die,” the man shouted repeatedly in Chinese and English. One of the people holding him back replied, “You came to China, you have to follow the laws and regulations here.

“Calm down, calm down,” said another. Reuters was unable to immediately verify the authenticity of the video.

Such agonizing scenes are watched with trepidation in Beijing, where officials hope early mass testing will spare them the angst of Shanghai, where officials waited about a month as cases surged before ordering testing at the city ​​scale.

In Beijing, supermarkets have stocked up well under orders from authorities. Shi Wei, 53, a retiree, said he was encouraged by the capital’s light workload but still nervous.

“For the past two days, every time I go to the supermarket, it’s very crowded, so I turn around and leave, because I don’t feel safe,” he said. “I can understand the panic, given what happened in Shanghai.”

Geng, 31, who works in finance and gave only his surname, said he feared he was a close contact of a COVED case and would be forced into quarantine with his entire family .

Beijing was testing the more than 3.5 million residents of its Chaoyang district on Wednesday, all of whom were screened on Monday. Another 16 million districts were tested on Tuesday and are due for another round on Thursday.

A total of 20 million of Beijing’s 22 million will be tested three times this week.

It’s unclear what percentage of those tests led to the detection of Beijing’s 31 new COVED cases on Tuesday, compared to 33 the day before.

As of 8 p.m. Monday, 526,457 samples from Chaoyang tested negative. Authorities have yet to release the full results of Monday’s test.

The coronavirus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, and authorities have managed to keep outbreaks largely under control with strict containment measures and travel bans. But the fast-spreading Omicron variant has tested China’s zero-COVID policy.

Shanghai was offered a glimmer of hope, with officials reiterating they would soon start easing restrictions in districts that have eradicated infections, without giving a timeframe or other details.

In the meantime, most people are confined to their homes. Even those who can get out have few options, with most shops and other venues closed.

Data showed six of Shanghai’s 16 districts had no cases outside quarantine zones, with numbers in seven others in the single digits. In total, Shanghai detected 171 such cases on Tuesday, down from 217 on Monday.

Shanghai reported 48 new deaths on Tuesday, down from 52 the day before, bringing the city’s official death toll since April 17 to 238.

China’s zero-tolerance policy has caused rare public anger in a momentous year for President Xi Jinping, over measures that look increasingly bizarre to an outside world that has instead chosen to “live with it”. COVED” as infections spread.

Xi is expected to seek a third term this year.

Research by Gavekal Dragonomics estimated that 57 of China’s 100 largest cities were in some form of COVED curbs last week.

The measures have hurt consumption, disrupted industry and spurred official efforts to boost the world’s second-largest economy, including stepping up investment in infrastructure, state TV reported, citing a meeting chaired by Xi. Read more

Hundreds of factories have been allowed to resume operations as state media extensively covered the reopening of Tesla’s (TSLA.O) factory in Shanghai last week.

But industry associations say most factories are struggling to get back to work with staff stuck at home, trucks parked in parking lots and component orders from like-minded contractors unfilled. Read more

Many housebound bankers, traders and investors say they are considering moving to other financial hubs. Read more

Reports from the Beijing and Shanghai offices; Written by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel

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