Beijing extends work-from-home order as COVID-19 cases rise

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing has extended orders for workers and students to stay home and ordered additional mass testing as cases of COVID-19 again rise in the city. Numerous residential compounds have restricted movement in and out, although conditions remain far less severe than in Shanghai, where millions of citizens have been under varying degrees of lockdown for two months. Beijing on Monday reported an uptick in cases to 99, up from a previous daily average of around 50. Despite China’s small, local outbreaks, the central government has hewed to strict quarantine, lockdown and testing measures under its “zero-COVID” approach, even while the outside world is opening up.