News > Stores close, restaurants empty: How Covid surge has turned Beijing into a 'ghost town'

Stores close, restaurants empty: How Covid surge has turned Beijing into a 'ghost town'

Beijing’s rapidly spreading Covid outbreak has turned the Chinese capital of 22 million people into a virtual ghost town as stores close and restaurants empty, underscoring the cost of President Xi Jinping’s sudden pivot away from Covid Zero. Beijing residents are hunkering down at home, either because they’re scared of catching the virus or because they already have it.