• Beijing has been hit by a sizable, spreading outbreak of norovirus.
• First outbreak in Beijing since pandemic began.
• As workers fall sick, firms report understaffing or altering schedules.

Beijing‘s new normal includes desolate malls, deserted streets, and inhabitants avoiding one another—but not because the city is in lockdown mode, like many other Chinese cities before it.

This time, a week after policymakers relaxed the nation’s stringent Covid policy, Beijing has been hit by a sizable, spreading outbreak – a first for the Chinese capital since the start of the pandemic.

On Tuesday, the city’s outbreak’s effects could be seen in the upscale shopping area of Sanlitun. There, the often busy stores and eateries had no patrons, and in some cases, they were running on skeleton staff or only serving takeout.

Similar situations can be seen all throughout Beijing, where businesses, residences, and workplaces report understaffing or changing work schedules as people become ill with the virus. Others, meanwhile, stay inside to prevent contracting the disease.

One community worker told Media that 21 of the 24 employees at her neighborhood committee office in Beijing, which was responsible for organizing residential issues and activities, had recently been unwell.

“As our superiors are mostly infected, there’s not much work being given to us,” said the employee, Sylvia Sun. “(The usual) events, lectures, performances, parent-child activities will definitely not be held.”

Beijing is already on the front lines of a new reality for China: not since the early days of the pandemic in Wuhan have Chinese cities dealt with an outbreak without strict control measures in place.

Prior to the new laws, Beijing was already suffering a small-scale outbreak.

However, for a location where every case was meticulously monitored until earlier this month, there is now no accurate information on the virus’s spread.

The testing standards that traditionally governed daily life in China have been greatly reduced by the new Covid rules, and residents now prefer to use home antigen tests when they are available, making official data unreliable.

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