The city of Beijing said it will improve anti-Covid measures and ban the use of barricades for buildings in closed-off residential compounds.

Liu Xiaofeng, deputy head of the Beijing municipal disease prevention and control centre, told a press conference on Sunday that the city must optimise epidemic control amid a continuous rise in cases.

Authorities said barricading building gates and entrances to residential complexes in high-risk areas is strictly prohibited.

Wang Daguang, a municipal official in charge of community-level epidemic control and prevention, said passages must remain clear for medical transportation, emergency escape and rescue purposes.

He also said residential complexes shall be lifted out of closed-off management in a timely manner where appropriate. Videos have emerged in recent days of people taking part in protests against Covid restrictions in several cities.

Authorities stressed the need to take measures to reduce the disruption to people's daily lives.

They also pledged to speed up the construction of makeshift hospitals.

Meanwhile, the daily caseload on the mainland has hit a fresh high.

The mainland reported 40,052 new local Covid cases on November 27, the National Health Commission said on Monday.

Of the cases, 3,748 were symptomatic and 36,304 were asymptomatic, up from 39,506 a day earlier. Mainland authorities count asymptomatic infections separately.

There were no deaths, compared with one the previous day, keeping fatalities at 5,233.

As of November 27, mainland China had confirmed 311,624 cases with symptoms. (Xinhua/Reuters)
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Last updated: 2022-11-28 HKT 13:39