China's capital Beijing is mass testing and shutting down residential and business districts amid a new outbreak of COVID-19.
So far, 70 cases have been found in the city of more than 21 million since the outbreak surfaced Friday.
Residents were staying home and stocking up on food as a safeguard against the possibility that they could be confined to their homes, as has happened in multiple cities including the financial hub of Shanghai.
Shanghai has been locked down for more than two weeks. The city reported 51 deaths in the latest 24-hour period, topping 100 deaths from the ongoing outbreak.
Volunteers and workers in Shanghai have erected metal barriers in multiple districts to block off small streets and entrances to apartment complexes as China hardens its strict “zero-COVID” approach in its largest city.
On social media, people posted videos of the new barriers with some expressing anger over the measures. In one video, residents broke down the mesh fence barricade.
Barriers have been put up in several neighborhoods in Shanghai's financial district.
Buildings where cases have been found sealed up their main entrances, with a small opening for pandemic prevention workers to pass through.
China reported 21,796 new infections on Sunday, most of them asymptomatic cases in Shanghai.
In Beijing, a district of 3 million people, testing began Monday.
The country's borders remain largely closed as the pandemic's economic impact and China's hardline response continue to grow.
