Beijing lifts last community lockdown after epidemic control efforts pay off

Beijing lifted the lockdowns of its last at-risk residential community on Tuesday, after the latest round of COVID-19 infections in the city was fully contained, a senior official said.

"Beijing has swiftly cut the transmission of the epidemic during this round of the outbreak," Pang Xinghuo, deputy head of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a news conference on Tuesday. The city has not reported any new locally transmitted cases since Aug 11.

Beijing has lifted lockdowns of 21 residential communities. The last one－Guofeng residential community－opened its gates to allow its residents out at 12.01 am on Tuesday.

"We have finally achieved success after a difficult 21 days of hard work during the lockdown," Cui Ning, a social worker and resident of the community, told Beijing Youth Daily. She went out of the community with her husband Zhang Xuefei, who has been doing volunteer work during the lockdown.

A middle-aged woman left the community as the gates opened in the early hours, and expressed her gratitude to community workers who made every effort to ensure people's daily needs were met during the lockdown.

"I'm eager to hang out with my classmates," a middle school boy said in a video interview with Beijing News on Tuesday morning.